What is an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and what does it really mean for physicians?
To help answer these questions for Pennsylvania physicians, the Pennsylvania Medical Society hosted a health care information technology summit on May 25, 2011, in partnership with the Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative and the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
The event brought together more than 100 representatives of health care and technology related organizations to discuss the future of ACOs, the legal and financial impact of ACOs, and how health information technology could enable development of ACOs in Pennsylvania.
The summit provided insight into the nationwide debate about whether the ACO concept, designed to improve coordination of care and lower health care costs for Medicare recipients, is a viable option for integration of the health care system.
Several speakers noted that physicians must provide the clinical leadership and decision making necessary to revise how hospitals and physicians traditionally interact with each other, and that this new relationship will be based on a mutual concern for quality, value, and improving outcomes.