Discussion Response 5 1.2

Need response to discussion question below 75 words 1 scholarly source, apa format

Unit 5, Discussion Topic 1

Emily

This thread is flagged This thread is pinned







The original formation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) was aimed at increasing the quality of care for patients and controlling cost, using a group effort with medical providers (Rosenbaum & Burke, 2011). The idea behind improving quality with ACO’s is the medical providers would be rewarded for increased quality of care – the compensation would be a combination of fee-for-service and a payment methodology that would encourage medical providers to provide quality service, not quantity. It is no secret that the fee-for-service payment system makes for medical services that are based on volume and not quality. Providers are more responsible for cost-of-care because they get incentive or penalties for increased and decreased costs – these costs are controlled by the provider’s treatment plan and tests that are ordered/performed (Blackstone & Fuhr, 2016).

McConnell et al. (2017) conducted a comparison study on ACO in Oregon and Colorado. This study analyzed over 400,000 enrollees in Oregon and over 300,000 enrollees in Colorado from 2010-2014. The authors used utilization measures using Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) with patients aging from 1 year old to 44 years old, looking at preventable ER visits and hospitalizations. The results showed Oregon to have a more comprehensive ACO, including decreased financial risks. This study found performance improvements in several areas in Oregon and Colorado but showed a baseline for expenditures (McConnell et al., 2017).

References

Blackstone, E. A., & Fuhr, J. P. (2016). The Economics of Medicare accountable care organizations. American Health and Drug Benefits, 9(1), 11–19.

McConnell, K. J., Renfro, S., Chan, B. S., Meath, T. A., Medelson, A., Cohen, D., & Lindrooth, R. C. (2017). Early performance in Medicaid accountable care organizations: A comparison of Oregon and Colorado. JAMA Internal Medicine, 177(4), 538-545.

Rosenbaum, S., & Burke, T. (2011). Accountable care organizations. Public Health Reports, 126(6), 875-878.