Healthcare Policies and ACOs

According to studies by RAND, the nation’s largest independent health policy research program, the presence of an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) increased in areas with large network hospitals. ACOs are part of the Affordable Care Act, and are designed to improve medical care as well as cut costs. The idea is essentially a group of consultants made up of doctors and other healthcare providers would be able to help prevent patients from choosing unnecessary procedures, while still giving them the care they need.

An online article on The Lund Report states that David Auerbach, lead author of the RAND study, believes: “…these organizations are becoming more common and are a key to transforming health care delivery in the United States to a more-coordinated, high-quality and efficient system.” The findings in the study are hoped to help policymakers accelerate the growth of ACOs, which is a key part of the strategy of the Affordable Care Act.

The RAND study was published in the October edition of the Health Affairs journal, and it is the largest study so far to observe the factors associated with ACOs in the federal healthcare program. The research showed that the Northeast and Mideast had multiple ACOs, while the Northwest had virtually none.

The Lund Report article further adds that the study concluded: “Factors associated with formation of accountable care organizations include a greater occurrence of payment risk sharing at hospitals, larger integrated hospital systems and primary care physicians practicing in large groups.” Conversely, a regions’ average income, number of physicians, enrollment in Medicare Advantage Plans, and per capita Medicare spending were shown to not have an effect on the presence of ACOs.

With the end of the government shutdown, it is speculated that the program will continue to expand throughout the country.