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Accountable Care Organizations

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been instrumental in reducing the cost of
healthcare while simultaneously improving its quality. These achievements have been made
through coordination of various healthcare providers. Such coordination enhances information
sharing and reduces duplication of different medical services and, therefore, reduces possibility
of medical errors (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2017). The overall effect of these measures is to make
healthcare services more efficient and effective.
ACOs are particularly effective for patients with conditions such heart failure and acute
myocardial infarction. Patients with these conditions also develop other conditions such as
diabetes and hypertension. Thus, when providing inpatient care to these services, costs are likely
to shoot up due to the need of managing the other conditions that they have (Buchbinder &
Shanks, 2017). The best way of reducing inpatient care for these patients is for them to have
them use episode-based payment rather than fee-for-service payment. Such payment, made at
early stage, will cover the costs of all the care they receive in the hospital rather than separately
paying for each of the services that they receive. This method significantly reduces the overall
cost of their care.

ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANIZATIONS 3

References

Buchbinder & Shanks, N. H. (Ed.). (2017). Introduction to health care management. Jones &
Bartlett Publishers.