More than 40 leading health systems have joined the Premier healthcare alliance's Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Readiness Collaborative, the group reported.
Working together, participating health systems will develop the organization, skills, team and operational capabilities necessary to become effective ACOs capable of lowering costs by improving care coordination, efficiency, quality and patient satisfaction, the group noted in a release.
An ACO is a group of healthcare providers that comes together to accept accountability for a defined patient population's care. They are designed to keep patients healthy and out of intensive care settings. At the same time, ACOs will increasingly shift reimbursements to be based on achieving top performance goals that lead to better and more cost-effective patient outcomes.
'Together, health systems in the ACO Readiness Collaborative will build the knowledge and expertise needed to transform today's system from one that treats illness, to one that delivers health and wellness,' said Premier president and CEO Susan DeVore. 'In moving forward this way, these health systems are truly implementing the goals of healthcare reform - improved healthcare outcomes at the most cost-effective price for patients and taxpayers.'
Premier also developed the ACO Implementation Collaborative, designed for health systems working to create ACOs today, leveraging existing payer partnerships and a tightly aligned, engaged physician network.
'There's no question that meeting the demands of healthcare reform will require providers to assume greater accountability for community health,' said Nick Turkal, MD, president and CEO for Aurora Health Care. 'Keeping people healthy is the best way for health systems to add real value, control healthcare costs and increase overall satisfaction. We truly believe that ACOs are the future.'
As described by the group, members of the ACO Readiness Collaborative will work to learn best practices and start to build the critical components of accountable care, including:
-A patient-centered foundation that designs the ACO from a patient's perspective to foster better engagement, satisfaction and increased accountability for health.
-Health homes that deliver primary care and manage health and wellness.
-New approaches to primary, specialty and hospital care to reward coordination, efficiency and productivity.
-Tightly integrated relationships with specialists, ancillary providers and hospitals so they are similarly focused and aligned to achieve high-value outcomes.
-Provider/payer partnerships and reimbursement models that incent improved outcomes, rewarding value over volume.
-Population health IT infrastructure, including health information exchanges to enable coordination across provider networks.
Members of the ACO Readiness Collaborative include:
-Adventist Health (Roseville, Calif.)
-Albert Einstein Healthcare Network (Philadelphia)
-Appalachian Regional Healthcare System (Boone, N.C.)
-Ardent Health Services (Nashville, Tenn.)
-Hillcrest Medical Center (Tulsa, Okla.)
-Lovelace Medical Center (Lovelace, N.M.)
-Aurora Health Care (Milwaukee)
-Avera Health (Sioux Falls, S.D.)
-Cape Fear Valley Health System (Fayetteville, N.C.)
-Catholic Healthcare Partners (Cincinnati)
-Mercy Health Partners (Cincinnati)
-Healthspan (Cincinnati)
-Mercy Health Partners (Knoxville)
-Central Maine Medical Center (Lewiston, Maine)
-East Alabama Medical Center (Opelika, Ala.)
-Fremont Area Medical Center (Fremont, Neb.)
-Hartford Hospital (Hartford, Conn.)
-Iredell Memorial Hospital (Statesville, N.C.)
-Kaleida Health (Buffalo, N.Y.)
-Kettering Health Network (Dayton, Ohio)
-Legacy Health System (Portland, Ore.)
-LifeBridge Health (Baltimore)
-Memorial Health System (Springfield, Ill.)
-Memorial University Medical Center (Savannah, Ga.)
-Methodist Health System (Dallas)
-Methodist/LeBonheur Healthcare (Memphis, Tenn.)
-Mission Health System (Asheville, N.C.)
-Mountain States Health Alliance (Johnson City, Tenn.)
-NCH Healthcare System (Naples, Fla.)
-PeaceHealth (Bellevue, Wash.)
-Phelps County Regional Medical Center (Rolla, Mo.)
-Randolph Hospital (Asheboro, N.C.)
-Regional Health (Rapid City, S.D.)
-Resurrection Health Care (Chicago)
-Saint Vincent Health System (Erie, Pa.)
-Self Regional Healthcare (Greenwood, S.C.)
-Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System (Lenexa, Kan.)
-Providence Medical Center (Kansas City, Kan.)
-St. Vincent Healthcare (Billings, Mont.)
-Southeastern Regional Medical Center (Lumberton, N.C.)
-Sparrow Health System (Lansing, Mich.)
-St. Anthony's Medical Center (St. Louis)
-St. Joseph's/Candler (Savannah, G.A.)
-St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network (Bethlehem, Penn.)
-St. Mary's Hospital (Waterbury, Conn.)
-Summit Medical Group, PLLC (Knoxville)
-TJ Sampson Community Hospital (Glasgow, Ken.)
-TriHealth Inc. (Cincinnati)
-UMC Health System (Lubbock, Texas)
-WINHealth Partners (Cheyenne, Wyo.)
-Wilson Medical Center (Wilson, N.C.)
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