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

Unit 5, Discussion Topic 1

Emily

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.