Accountable Care Organizations (ACO)s refer to doctors, hospitals and other providers of healthcare needs who voluntarily provide high quality health care services to their Medicare patients. This kind of coordinated healthcare ensures that all patients get the right medical care without service duplication and medical errors. When such an organization achieves its goals which are to provide high-quality medical care and to spend health care funds wisely, it shares its savings for Medicare program. The mission of these organizations is to ensure that Medicare patients get better care hence saving funds for the providers and the patients. It also helps in controlling waste in the Medicare system.
The system is associated with many advantages and disadvantages. Accountable Care Organization ensures that there are minimum losses and inefficiencies through healthcare provision (Meehan et al., 2016) within a specified network. It ensures better health care for patients as it specifically focuses on patients with chronic diseases. The organization ensures better healthcare for patients with little or no waste in the Medicare system. It focuses on providing physician-driven treatment ad provides financial incentives for ACOs which are successful. It ensures patient satisfaction as patients receive more comprehensive care and feel that they are well taken care of.
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Among the weaknesses associated with the system is the costly implementation process which is faced with challenges as most organizations do not have the financial capacity. ACOs are designed by sharing information ( Meehan et al., 2016) therefore making it a difficult implementation task for organizations that do not use any sort of EMR. It uses capitation system whereby healthcare providers are paid a specific amount for taking care of a patient over a specified period. Patients suffering from chronic diseases while at the same time requiring additional care risk receiving inadequate care. Also, the provider risks undergoing financial instability. The raising requirements for these organizations have proven to be a concern and with time the requirements will become unsustainable. The high costs associated with the setup of Accountable Care Organizations reduce the benefits that patients are supposed to receive from the organizations. They do not cater for new expenses and do not allow patients to receive efficient health care.
References
D'aunno, T., Broffman, L., Sparer, M., & Kumar, S. R. (2018). Factors that distinguish high‐performing accountable care organizations in the Medicare shared savings program. Health services research , 53 (1), 120-137.
Meehan, T. M., Harvey, H. B., Duszak, R., Meyers, P. M., McGinty, G., Nicola, G. N., & Hirsch, J. A. (2016). Accountable care organizations: what they mean for the country and for neurointerventionalists. Journal of neurointerventional surgery , 8 (6), 654-657.
