Hospital Executives’ Guide to Aco Assessment - Softcover

The Healthcare Executive's Guide to ACO Strategy is the first comprehensive book dissecting the integral components of ACOs from physician, provider, and payer views, including analysis of the CMS final regulations.

In the wake of healthcare reform, ACOs continue to emerge as the care delivery and reimbursement model of the future. Get the book that provides specifics on incorporating accountable care structure and strategy into your organization so you can enter the ACO era prepared and positioned to succeed.

Get expert advice on ACOs and the elements for success, including how to:

• Participate in the CMS Shared Savings program
• Distinguish the various characteristics of an ACO and its operations
• Understand how ACO reimbursement structure will work
• Evaluate the process of forming an ACO-including the legal, financial, IT, and governance requirements
• Fulfill important quality measures for an ACO
• Reshape and refine hospital-physician alignment strategies

Chapter 1: ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW

• What Is an ACO?
• The Logic of ACOs
• Basic ACO Tenets
• Key Characteristics of Accountable Care

Chapter 2: HOW WE GOT HERE

• A Look Back at the 1980s and '90s
• The Alternatives to HMOs
• Medicare Prospective Payment System
• Physician-hospital Organizations  

Chapter 3: WHAT WE ANTCIPATE ABOUT THE ACCOUNTABLE CARE CONCEPT

• Accountable Care Organizations
• Why ACOs?
• What Will an ACO Look Like?
• Structural Change
• Challenges of Collaboration  

Chapter 4: PHYSICIAN-HOSPITAL INTEGRATION

• ACOs as a Driver of Alignment
• Different Alignment Models
• Continuum of Care and Integration  

Chapter 5: COMPENSATION AND ANTICIPATED CHANGES

• Historical and Current Reimbursement Structures
• Proposed Reimbursement Structures
• Medical Home Payment Models  

Chapter 6: ARE YOU READY FOR AN ACO ENVIRONMENT?

• Organizational Assessment
• Financing: Startup and Ongoing Expenses
• Market Assessment  

Chapter 7: LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Requirements
• Governance
• Antitrust Issues
• Stark Law and Anti-kickback Statute  

Chapter 8: THE CMS SHARED SAVINGS PROGRAM

• Program Overview
• Shared Savings Program Tracts
• Interim Payment Option  

Chapter 9: BENCHMARKS FOR SHARED SAVINGS PROGRAM

• Assignment of Beneficiaries
• Cost Benchmarks
• Review of the Norton Healthcare and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health Care System ACOs  

Chapter 10: QUALITY MEASURES

• Benchmarks, Standardization, and Protocols
• Utilization of Evidence-based Medicine
• Measuring Outcomes
• Patient Compliance  

Chapter 11: THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

• Technology Considerations
• Health IT Market as it Relates to ACOs
• Harmonizing the ACO through Connectivity  

Chapter 12: PATIENT-CENTERED MEDICAL HOMES

• How Consolidation Has Shaped the Future
• Positioning for an Evolving Healthcare System
• What is the Patient-Centered Medical Home?
• Comparing ACOs and Medical Homes  

Chapter 13: Where Do We Go From Here?

• Form Physicians-Hospital Alliances
• Partner in the Delivery of Quality and Cost-effective Medical Care
• Review Current Compensation and Reimbursement Models
• Recap of ACO Programs