Confusion over which physicians, facilities, and pharmacies are in insurance companies' networks has become an issue among enrollees in marketplace plans under health care reform, Medicare Advantage plans, and even accountable care organizations.

OBJECTIVE This report summarizes the closing plenary session of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges Educational Conference-Research Agenda Conference 2014. The purpose of this session was to examine patient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations from various speakers' viewpoints and to discuss how chiropractic could possibly work within, and successfully contribute to, t...

More than 35% of Medicare beneficiaries receive care from providers operating under some form of shared savings/risk type of pay-for-performance incentive. Implementation of payment reform without a corresponding change to coverage, benefit, and other payment requirements, however, creates conflicting incentives that may nullify the intended aim of payment reform: to improve health outcomes, wh...

UNLABELLED Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in the United States of America (USA) and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in the United Kingdom (UK) are newly proposed cross-organisational structures in health services both tasked with a role which includes improving public health. Although there are very significant differences between the UK and USA health systems, there appears to be s...

1 Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, Public Law 111–52, 124 Stat. 1029 (2010); Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111–48, 124 Stat. 119 (2010). 2 As used in this document, ‘‘ACO’’ refers to Accountable Care Organizations under the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which also may operate in commercial markets. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 3022,...

This Policy Brief presents characteristics contributing to the formation of four accountable care organizations (ACOs) that serve rural Medicare beneficiaries. Doing so provides considerations for provider organizations contemplating creating rural-based ACOs. Key Findings. (1) Previous organizational integration and risk-sharing experience facilitated ACO formation. (2) Use of an electronic he...