Health providers embrace the potential of ACOs

News outlets report on some health care providers' views of the potential of accountable care organizations to improve quality and reduce costs.

USA Today: Health Care Providers Embracing Cost-Saving Groups
Health care providers are embracing accountable care organizations, a key part of last year's health care law, as they try to control rising Medicare and health care costs. Accountable care organizations are networks of doctors and hospitals that band together to better coordinate patient care by using computerized medical records and increased analysis of various treatments. Instead of the current system in which a patient sees a variety of doctors with little coordination, this new system is meant to eliminate duplication and provide financial incentives for providers to improve quality while also cutting costs (Kennedy, 7/24).

Kaiser Health News: Kaiser Permanente CEO Sees Openings For Accountable Care Organizations - The KHN Interview
Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Joanne Silberner writes about her recent conversation with George Halvorson, who offers his take on the future of health care under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, including the role ACOs are likely to play. Read the interview (Silberner, 7/25).

Modern Healthcare: Bonuses, Losses Steeper In Leaked Pioneer Draft Regs
A draft copy of proposed regulations establishing the Pioneer model of accountable care organizations, which was leaked to a Washington media outlet, appears to offer both greater potential bonuses and losses than initially discussed. The Pioneer model aims to let provider groups move more quickly from a shared-savings payment model to a population-based model on a track that is both consistent with — but separate from — the more complex and controversial original ACO program (Daly, 7/22).