Excerpt of an article By ALLISON BELL
Published 12/20/2010 Subscribe to Life & Health
The coming year could be the year when “accountable care organizations” (ACOs) get a chance to show whether they will be a fad or a classic.
An ACO is a vehicle for paying teams of health care providers to care for whole patients, instead of paying for care one service at a time.
The Affordable Care Act, the legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), is requiring Medicare to use ACOs starting in 2012, and many private health carriers are now testing ACOs.
Elizabeth Mills, a senior counsel in the Chicago officer of Proskauer Rose L.L.P., a law firm, ACO organizers still face regulatory challenges.
The coming year could be the year when “accountable care organizations” (ACOs) get a chance to show whether they will be a fad or a classic.
Aetna Inc., Hartford (NYSE:AET), says an ACO it has been testing on 20,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees since 2007 seems to be working well.
This year, the ACO enrollees have been using 43% less acute hospital care than comparable enrollees in unmanaged Medicare have been using, Aetna says.
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