Accountable care organizations under the new health care law

Since long before it was signed into law in March 2010, the Affordable Care Act (often not so affectionately referred to as “Obamacare”) has been causing a stir in American politics. As anyone with cable or an internet connection will know, there has been a vigorous debate about what the Affordable Care Act will do to the health care industry and the overall American economy, but as the Supreme Court continues to uphold some of its more controversial provisions, there’s little doubt that the ACA will stick around, like it or not.

One of the major changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act is the establishment of accountable care organizations (ACOs). ACOs are just one solution provided for in the new law that was designed to help lighten the load on Social Security and Medicare programs as a huge population of baby boomers age into their 60s and begin taking advantage of their benefits. While the law itself is incredibly detailed, the basics of understanding ACOs are simple: ask doctors to work together to keep down the costs of medical care.

An accountable care organization is a network of doctors—whether primary care physicians, specialists, or home health care professionals—who coordinate to oversee the comprehensive care of at least 5,000 Medicare patients for a minimum of three years. Patients insured through an ACO aren’t required to see doctors in this network, but ideally, the coordination between providers in an ACO would result in better overall care for each individual patient.

The main impetus behind this program was to save money on Medicare spending, which the new law accomplishes by providing bonuses to ACOs that work together to reduce the cost of patient care. With incentives for doctors who participate by sharing information about medical history and ongoing care, the hope is that unnecessary repeating of tests and procedures can be avoided. Some estimates show that this will save Medicare around 960 million dollars in the first three years of implementation.

Whether or not you’re a fan of the new health care legislation, it’s hard to argue that measures shouldn’t be taken to increase the efficiency of Medicare spending and slow the rise of the national debt. Accountable care organizations are one attempt to tackle this problem, and hopefully, the result will be better, more responsible care of patients in the US.