What is an ACO?
ACO is an organization which was formed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; its main function is to act as a primary care provider that is responsible for coordinating over 5000 Medicare beneficiaries. It may …show more content…
This implies that the ACO should be a legal entity on its own existing either as Limited Liability Company or a non-profit organization. It should contain the requisite certificate and federal tax identification number and good standing (Hecker et al 2014). Though, ACO was not anticipated to be a health provider. However, its partners must be health care providers and fulfill the expected minimum required …show more content…
The leadership is comprised of an executive officer ACO, participants, senior medical doctor and process improvement committee, and physician-directed quality insurance. Furthermore, the ACO shall need information technology for electronically synchronizing health records of patients and also connect several partners to the patient data obtained. Profits and incentives will be shared among the partners. Programs like shared savings programs (MSS), Medicare would permit providers to have a piece of the savings made from the cost reduction attained via the programs. The Advance Payment Accountable Care Organization Model will afford sustenance to rural providers and physician-owned that participates in the MSS program. The ACO programs have faults. Some analysts ponder that if ACO partners are placed on the board as board members in the organization, it will grant them many powers hence hindering the growth of the organization. Also, crating ACO and its huge electronic health record system will incur high startup costs and extra annual expenses which may hinder the program in the future. A poser occurs for primary care physicians who join on if this would violate antitrust laws (Moore, & Coddington, 2011).
Why should Inova consider forming an