TY - JOUR T1 - Accountable Care Organizations: roles and opportunities for hospitals. A1 - Schoenbaum,Stephen C, PY - 2011/9/2/entrez PY - 2011/9/2/pubmed PY - 2011/10/5/medline SP - 140 EP - 8 JF - Hospital practice (1995) JO - Hosp Pract (1995) VL - 39 IS - 3 N2 - Federal health reform has established Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) as a new program, and some states and private payers have been independently developing ACO pilot projects. The objective is to hold provider groups accountable for the quality and cost of care to a population. The financial models for providers generally build off of shared savings between the payers and providers or some type of global payment that includes the possibility of partial or full capitation. For ACOs to achieve the same outcomes with lower costs or, better yet, improved outcomes with the same or lower costs, the delivery system will need to become more oriented toward primary care and care coordination than is currently the case. Providers of clinical services, in order to be more effective, efficient, and coordinated, will need to be supported by a variety of shared services, such as off-hours care, easy access to specialties, and information exchanges. These services can be organized by an ACO as a medical neighborhood or community. Hospitals, because they have a management structure, history of developing programs and services, and accessibility 24/7/365, are logical leaders of this enhancement of health care delivery for populations and other providers. SN - 2154-8331 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/21881401/Accountable_Care_Organizations:_roles_and_opportunities_for_hospitals_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -