The Colorado Health Institute provided four health policy roundtables for Colorado legislators in February and March 2012.
This presentation provides information on two new delivery models that are trying to tackle the problem of ever-increasing health care expenses - Accountable Care Organizations and the Accountable Care Collaborative and how they aim to contain costs.
WHAT IS AN ACCOUNTABLE CARE
ORGANIZATION?
A network of providers that coordinate health care.
The accountable care organization, also known as an
ACO, is a new health care delivery model being tested
in Colorado and across the nation. The goal is to improve
the quality of care and reduce health care costs.
An accountable care organization (ACO) is a network of providers that coordinate health care. ACOs aim to curb health spending by keeping people healthy and preventing costly medical conditions. They require providers to work together for the health of their patients, giving them financial incentives to cooperate and save money by avoiding unnecessary tests and procedures.
Developed by the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) in 2009, the Acountable Care Collaborative (ACC) is a Colorado-grown initiative based on ACO principles. But unlike the federal ACOs that focus on those covered by Medicare, the ACC serves clients of the federal-state Medicaid program.