Un-bundling the Act: Provisions for ACOs

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH We heard a lot about the rough life of Federal legislators when one of the material objections aka ‘talking points’ to actually considering the thoughtful remedies borne via public/private discourse and years if not decades of health policy development and experience outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act …

All Eyes on SCOTUS Decision Expected Later This Week?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH We’ve been in a quiet period since the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) accepted the series of challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, yet the buzz factor is up via the blogosphere, social media and both broadcast and cable news media outlets as some expect …

Update: Growth and Dispersion of Accountable Care Organizations – Leavitt Partners

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH While Attending the Third National ACO Summit in Washington, DC last week I  had the opportunity to cross paths with Thomas Merrill my liaison with Leavitt Partners (LP) responsible for our interview on ‘This Week in Accountable Care‘ discussing LP’s initial release of their report ‘Growth and Dispersion of Accountable …

Dave Chase CEO of Avado at Health Datapalooza

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH In the flurry of activities associated with the Health Data Forum III in Washington, DC aka (‘health datapalooza‘) I managed to corral  Dave Chase aka @ChaseDave in the Exhibition Hall at the DC Convention Center following his presentation at the ACO breakout session. Amidst the background noise, we hear from …

Atul Gawande at Health Data Palooza Session on ACOs: A Keynote

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Since he authored ‘The [healthcare] Cost Conundrum‘ piece some three years ago, positing the question of who will emerge as the ‘anchor tenant’ business model in healthcare, I’ve been ‘waving’ at Atul Gawande via social media including Twitter and blog. When I saw that he was faciliating a breakout session …

Towards a Framework of an ACO (Accountable Care) and Meaningful Use Crosswalk

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Lets begin with the core observation that both ACOs (or more broadly cast and therefore agile accountable care undertakings) and the Meaningful Use program are for the most part children of statute with intent to impact a less than optimal if not failing health care delivery and financing paradigm. The …

A Gentle Appeal to Healthcare Social Media Thought Leadership

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH It takes courage to live a life of consistent integrity. Owning the occasional ‘wreckage of one’s presence’ (you know when things don’t go your way or as planned) can at times be an emotional and intellectual stretch. After all, we do live in a society that often embraces the transfer …

ACOs, PCMHs and Risk Contracting: A Primer

By Ben Miller, PsyD Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), according to NPR, takes “up only seven pages of the massive new health law” yet has become one hot topic in healthcare circles. What are ACOs and what implications do they have on the community? Well first, let’s define an ACO: Accountable Care Organizations are partnerships between …

The Incidence of ACOs: The Leavitt Report

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH We’re seeing a flurry of reports on ACOs quoting the Leavitt Partners report ‘Growth and Dispersion of Accountable Care Organizations‘ published last year, see previous post for access here. Meanwhile we chatted with report authors Andrew Croshaw and Thomas Merrill who provided additional context and insight into their findings on …

IPA + HIT (aka technology stack) x MSO = ACO

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH For those not familiar with the ever expanding ‘acronym soup’ we often take for granted inside the healthcare borg: I/P/A = Independent Practice Association | H/I/T = Health Information Technology | M/S/O = Management Services Organization Judging by the ‘anemic’ numbers specific to CMS forecasts for participants in the broad …