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Analysis of early accountable care organizations defines patient, structural, cost, and quality-of-care characteristics.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2014 Jan; 33(1):95-102.HA

Abstract

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have attracted interest from many policy makers and clinical leaders because of their potential to improve the quality of care and reduce costs. Federal ACO programs for Medicare beneficiaries are now up and running, but little information is available about the baseline characteristics of early entrants. In this descriptive study we present data on the structural and market characteristics of these early ACOs and compare ACOs' patient populations, costs, and quality with those of their non-ACO counterparts at baseline. We found that ACO patients were more likely than non-ACO patients to be older than age eighty and had higher incomes. ACO patients were less likely than non-ACO patients to be black, covered by Medicaid, or disabled. The cost of care for ACO patients was slightly lower than that for non-ACO patients. Slightly fewer than half of the ACOs had a participating hospital. Hospitals that were in ACOs were more likely than non-ACO hospitals to be large, teaching, and not-for-profit, although there was little difference in their performance on quality metrics. Our findings can be useful in interpreting the early results from the federal ACO programs and in establishing a baseline to assess the programs' development.

Links

Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors

Epstein AM
No affiliation info available
Jha AK
No affiliation info available
Orav EJ
No affiliation info available
Liebman DL
No affiliation info available
Audet AM
No affiliation info available
Zezza MA
No affiliation info available
Guterman S
No affiliation info available

MeSH

Accountable Care OrganizationsAgedAged, 80 and overCosts and Cost AnalysisFemaleHealth Care CostsHealth StatusHumansIncomeInsurance CoverageMaleMedicaidMedicareQuality of Health CareUnited States

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

24395940

Citation

Epstein, Arnold M., et al. "Analysis of Early Accountable Care Organizations Defines Patient, Structural, Cost, and Quality-of-care Characteristics." Health Affairs (Project Hope), vol. 33, no. 1, 2014, pp. 95-102.
Epstein AM, Jha AK, Orav EJ, et al. Analysis of early accountable care organizations defines patient, structural, cost, and quality-of-care characteristics. Health Aff (Millwood). 2014;33(1):95-102.
Epstein, A. M., Jha, A. K., Orav, E. J., Liebman, D. L., Audet, A. M., Zezza, M. A., & Guterman, S. (2014). Analysis of early accountable care organizations defines patient, structural, cost, and quality-of-care characteristics. Health Affairs (Project Hope), 33(1), 95-102. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.1063
Epstein AM, et al. Analysis of Early Accountable Care Organizations Defines Patient, Structural, Cost, and Quality-of-care Characteristics. Health Aff (Millwood). 2014;33(1):95-102. PubMed PMID: 24395940.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Analysis of early accountable care organizations defines patient, structural, cost, and quality-of-care characteristics. AU - Epstein,Arnold M, AU - Jha,Ashish K, AU - Orav,E John, AU - Liebman,Daniel L, AU - Audet,Anne-Marie J, AU - Zezza,Mark A, AU - Guterman,Stuart, PY - 2014/1/8/entrez PY - 2014/1/8/pubmed PY - 2015/4/14/medline KW - Cost of Health Care KW - Health Reform KW - Medicare KW - Organization and Delivery of Care KW - Quality Of Care SP - 95 EP - 102 JF - Health affairs (Project Hope) JO - Health Aff (Millwood) VL - 33 IS - 1 N2 - Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have attracted interest from many policy makers and clinical leaders because of their potential to improve the quality of care and reduce costs. Federal ACO programs for Medicare beneficiaries are now up and running, but little information is available about the baseline characteristics of early entrants. In this descriptive study we present data on the structural and market characteristics of these early ACOs and compare ACOs' patient populations, costs, and quality with those of their non-ACO counterparts at baseline. We found that ACO patients were more likely than non-ACO patients to be older than age eighty and had higher incomes. ACO patients were less likely than non-ACO patients to be black, covered by Medicaid, or disabled. The cost of care for ACO patients was slightly lower than that for non-ACO patients. Slightly fewer than half of the ACOs had a participating hospital. Hospitals that were in ACOs were more likely than non-ACO hospitals to be large, teaching, and not-for-profit, although there was little difference in their performance on quality metrics. Our findings can be useful in interpreting the early results from the federal ACO programs and in establishing a baseline to assess the programs' development. SN - 1544-5208 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/24395940/Analysis_of_early_accountable_care_organizations_defines_patient_structural_cost_and_quality_of_care_characteristics_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -