Accountable Care Organizations: The Key to More Coordinated Care?

Abstract

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of providers that assume financial risk for the care of defined populations. ACOs have been proposed as a means to control the soaring costs of care while simultaneously ensuring the quality and efficiency of that care. Although changes to payment and incentive arrangements are important for the success of ACOs, part of the promise of ACOs depends upon redesigning the way care is coordinated among providers through a variety of coordination mechanisms. In this symposium, we include four empirical papers that together explore how ACOs are attempting to coordinate care and assess the impacts of those coordination efforts on various organizational and patient outcomes. Following the presentations, Stephen Shortell, a prominent ACO researcher and thought leader, will serve as discussant, providing comments tying the four papers together, drawing out implications for research and practice, and leading an interactive group discussion. The Role of Care Coordinatio...