The federal government is using financial incentives to encourage hospitals and physicians to create ACOs for the management of Medicare patients. Principal ACO functions include provider integration using global (shared) budgets, objectively measured quality improvements, information interoperability and reimbursing physicians for improved quality outcomes. Creating accountable care in every hospital-physician enterprise should be the goal irrespective of the providers’ desire to formally transform themselves into Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) as proposed by federal legislation. Innovative organizations can utilize Verras’ innovative technologies and services to take advantage of the ACO’s precedent-setting change of rewarding hospitals for improved quality outcomes. Moreover, there will likely be the relaxation of some Stark provisions in order to directly incentivize hospitals’ non-employed physicians for their participation. If some Stark provisions are indeed relaxed by the final PPACA legislation, as some experts expect, physicians would have even greater incentives to participate.

Related Informatics:  Index of Accountable Care (IAC)