Making ACOs a permanent part of health reform will help control costs: CAPG

Leaders from California’s physicians groups are in Washington DC this week meeting with key members of Congress to offer their experience at the forefront of a key health care reform element – Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).

According to leaders from the California Association of Physician Groups, making ACOs a permanent part of health reform will help control costs by transcending the old model of fee-for-service charges by doctors, and accelerating “outcome based” medicine and adoption of health information technology.

“Accountable care organizations have worked in California for two decades – from consumer protections to financial solvency standards,” said Donald H. Crane, president and CEO of the California Association of Physician Groups. “California’s physician groups have been working in an integrated, accountable system to create improved outcomes for patients and we can offer the road map for how to implement this as part of the national health reform package now being negotiated,” said Crane.

“Of concern to us, however, is the latest proposal to limit use of ACOs to a pilot project. People are losing their jobs, their savings and their health care coverage, so when the Congressional Budget Office estimates the savings of an ACO “pilot program” at $2.3 billion, it seems timid and short-sighted to not use the best practices that are out there and available to implement ACOs much more broadly within the Medicare system,” said Crane.

Also on the agenda for the physician groups is discussion about fundamental changes to the Medicare Advantage program and how to apply best practices from the coordinated care services that have shown a proven track record of reduced hospitalizations, better outcomes and healthier patients.

While physician groups recognize the need to address economic imbalances between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare, they are urging Congress to follow the creed of all physicians: “First, Do No Harm.”

“More than any other population group in our country, Medicare patients need the personalized services that improve coordination and prevent complications from chronic diseases, which recent research from John Hopkins shows, reduces costly hospitalizations by up to 27 percent.

“It’s incomprehensible that policy leaders would go to the unnecessary expense of disrupting continuity of care by sending patients back into a self-directed fee-for-service system where the government will have to spend money to re-create medical homes that our medical groups are already providing,” said Crane.