A.C.O for INOVA
First I would like to thank you for giving me this chance to share my opinion and finding on this issue of forming an A.C.O. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (C.M.S) defines an Accountable Care Organization as a "a healthcare organization characterized by the coordinated care efforts of hospitals, physician groups, insurance agencies, and other healthcare stakeholders who seek quality improvement while being accountable for the cost, efficiency, and overall care of a defined group of patients ” (A.C.O - C.M.S, 2015). The goal of an A.C.O is to “deliver high quality care” and reduce health care expenditure by “avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors” (A.C.O - C.M.S, 2015). A.C.O organizations that meet the goal will receive a payment of “shared savings” on top of the regular “fee-for-service” compensation from the federal government. It’s my opinion that forming an A.C.O will allow us to keep pushing to stay ahead of our competitors in the changing health care market. Our organization’s mission is “to improve the health of the diverse community we serve through excellence in patient care, education and research” (“Our Mission | Inova Health System,” n.d.). Our mission is consistent with the goal designed for A.C.Os by the C.M.S and also with the demands of our patients who would like to pay less, and receive a high quality care from physicians that are highly trained and effective at what they do. Forming an A.C.O by integrating with a group health care provider like Top Doctors and Nurses of Capitol Hill will allow us to take part in an innovative system that will not only ensure our commitment to providing high quality care while reducing costs, it will also create an opportunity to receive bonuses for successful participation in the program. There are a few …show more content…
The first one is that it is highly imperative to be fully aware of and we meet the requirements put in place by the C.M.S to form an ACO. The C.M.S has established the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) that uses the A.C.O model in order to improve the quality of care to Medicare beneficiaries and other patients. “Under the MSSP, the ACO must have at least 5,000 Medicare beneficiaries while meeting certain quality measures for a time span of three years” (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2011). Another major requirement that we will have to meet is the 33 quality performance standards set forth by the CMS that requires ACOs to meet while saving money, to prevent the ACO from merely reducing costs without improving quality of care. Since our organization has been working with Medicare patients and we are currently providing high quality of care to our patients it’s my opinion that with the proper management in place we will meet all the requirements of the …show more content…
I also suggest consulting other well-established ACOs that work under MSSP. Since those ACOs have been inspected and approved to meet the requirements of the CMS we can model their quality, financial metrics and learn which management strategies they implemented. I’ve come across the following methods and objectives that are currently being used by many ACOs. “Having a designated quality officer or manger to comply with CMS quality measures; integrating new and innovative technologies like electronic medical records to eliminate duplicative data and enhance data mining; and developing incentives to physicians for improving quality of care while reducing costs”. (Koury, C.
First I would like to thank you for giving me this chance to share my opinion and finding on this issue of forming an A.C.O. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (C.M.S) defines an Accountable Care Organization as a "a healthcare organization characterized by the coordinated care efforts of hospitals, physician groups, insurance agencies, and other healthcare stakeholders who seek quality improvement while being accountable for the cost, efficiency, and overall care of a defined group of patients ” (A.C.O - C.M.S, 2015). The goal of an A.C.O is to “deliver high quality care” and reduce health care expenditure by “avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors” (A.C.O - C.M.S, 2015). A.C.O organizations that meet the goal will receive a payment of “shared savings” on top of the regular “fee-for-service” compensation from the federal government. It’s my opinion that forming an A.C.O will allow us to keep pushing to stay ahead of our competitors in the changing health care market. Our organization’s mission is “to improve the health of the diverse community we serve through excellence in patient care, education and research” (“Our Mission | Inova Health System,” n.d.). Our mission is consistent with the goal designed for A.C.Os by the C.M.S and also with the demands of our patients who would like to pay less, and receive a high quality care from physicians that are highly trained and effective at what they do. Forming an A.C.O by integrating with a group health care provider like Top Doctors and Nurses of Capitol Hill will allow us to take part in an innovative system that will not only ensure our commitment to providing high quality care while reducing costs, it will also create an opportunity to receive bonuses for successful participation in the program. There are a few …show more content…
The first one is that it is highly imperative to be fully aware of and we meet the requirements put in place by the C.M.S to form an ACO. The C.M.S has established the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) that uses the A.C.O model in order to improve the quality of care to Medicare beneficiaries and other patients. “Under the MSSP, the ACO must have at least 5,000 Medicare beneficiaries while meeting certain quality measures for a time span of three years” (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2011). Another major requirement that we will have to meet is the 33 quality performance standards set forth by the CMS that requires ACOs to meet while saving money, to prevent the ACO from merely reducing costs without improving quality of care. Since our organization has been working with Medicare patients and we are currently providing high quality of care to our patients it’s my opinion that with the proper management in place we will meet all the requirements of the …show more content…
I also suggest consulting other well-established ACOs that work under MSSP. Since those ACOs have been inspected and approved to meet the requirements of the CMS we can model their quality, financial metrics and learn which management strategies they implemented. I’ve come across the following methods and objectives that are currently being used by many ACOs. “Having a designated quality officer or manger to comply with CMS quality measures; integrating new and innovative technologies like electronic medical records to eliminate duplicative data and enhance data mining; and developing incentives to physicians for improving quality of care while reducing costs”. (Koury, C.