About a month ago, I blogged a piece about a new concept which is gaining popularity in the Medicare reform debate called Accountable Care Organizations or ACO’s. You can find that posting here.
Here is a quick update from the Commonwealth Fund website (which was originally from the Congressional Quarterly). This article talks about an April 9th meeting of MedPAC where ACOs were discussed and the high level of interest which the representatives in Congress have in learning about these organizations.
I’m continuing to follow this concept sort of loosely as it seems to be gaining more and more momentum politically.
Here is a link to the Article from the Commonwealth page.
Fundamentally, I still believe these organizations work on the same basis as our current HMO’s, except the administration is different. Interestingly, Glenn M. Hackbarth, the MedPAC Chairman noted that these ACO’s could eventually involve private insurers. This would seem to bring them closer in line with Medicare advantage.
The concept seems to break down for me where the Medicare Beneficiary is not compelled to use the ACO and the Medical Providers and not compelled to join the ACO. I’m wondering what the motivation might be on the Medicare Beneficiary side and/or on the provider side. Providers might be tempted with bonuses, but they would also be taking on more risk versus traditional fee for service payments.
