AMGA launches ACO Development Collaborative and Implementation Collaborative

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) announced today that it will launch two collaborative focused on practical steps toward creating high-performing organizations and systems of care termed Accountable Care Organizations: a Development Collaborative and an Implementation Collaborative. The collaboratives will offer access to content experts and provide a forum in which peer organizations can learn from one another as they begin to build and refine business and care processes to develop high-quality, efficient, and sustainable systems of care that provide high-value care to their patients and communities.

ACOs are one of the key efforts of the recent healthcare reform legislation that address the two greatest challenges facing US health care: unsustainable escalation of costs that threaten the affordability of care and care that is fragmented, poorly coordinated with little accountability for the outcomes of care. It is widely believed that the current volume-based payment system is part of the problem and needs to be restructured to support paying for value rather than paying for delivering services and procedures. The ACO concept couples payment and delivery systems reforms that may have the opportunity to bend the cost curve while improving access and quality.

AMGA's ACO Learning Collaboratives follow a strong tradition of collaborative quality improvement and sharing best practices among medical practices. For more than a decade, AMGA has used learning collaboratives as a valuable tool for organizational performance improvement. Each collaborative creates a community of knowledge that helps participants accelerate systemic change and make lasting breakthroughs in quality, service, and efficiency.

"AMGA's ACO Collabortives will bring together some of the nation's foremost medical group leaders that have pioneered the delivery of accountable care. We believe their experiences will assist all interested provider organizations that wish to move to the level of high-performing healthcare delivery systems and learning organizations" says Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., AMGA President and CEO.

AMGA is offering two different learning collaboratives that will both be kept apprised of legislative and regulatory development concerning ACOs.

The AMGA ACO Development Collaborative will guide member organizations through a structured assessment of their readiness to become an ACO. The participants will:

•Examine the structural and governance components of ACOs
•Learn what is required to function as an ACO
•Explore new business opportunities that should be considered
•Assess their organization's readiness function as an ACO
•Receive case studies of functioning ACOs from which operational challenges and solutions will be shared.

The AMGA ACO Implementation Collaborative will assist members to:

•Design and implement governance structures that support aligned vision and mission
•Design, organize, and manage efficient and effective clinical delivery systems
•Integrate care across time, settings, disciplines, and geographies
•Develop and implement systems that account for cost and quality
•Develop methodologies that support innovative pricing and distribution of premium dollars and shared savings

Both collaboratives will be kept apprised of legislative and regulatory development concerning ACOs.

AMGA will offer a series of webinars for organizations who are interested in learning more about the two ACO Collaboratives and the time frame for launch. For more information, visit www.amga.org.

SOURCE The American Medical Group Association

www.amga.org