Accountable Care Organizations (ACO)
According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high quality care to the Medicare patients they serve.
Examples of Accountable Care Organization (ACO) or Shared Savings Investment Activities
ACO or Shared Savings Investment Activities | Allowable Activities |
---|---|
A. Computerized provider order entry implementation and/or training |
Any educational trainings that support provide use and implementation. |
B. Pharmacy services |
Training, hardware/software, that supports remote pharmacy services. |
C. Population health or disease registry training and/or software/hardware |
Educational training, or hardware/software to support the development and implementation of a disease registry for care coordination*. Software and training for analysis of population health needs by chronic disease or geographic location for care management programs. |
D. Social determinants of health (SDOH) screening software/training* |
Software and training for analysis of social determinants of health for improving health outcomes and care management programs. |
E. Efficiency or quality improvement training in support of ACO or shared savings related initiatives |
Quality Improvement trainings such as the following:
Consider other efficiency or quality improvement trainings to address performance issues related to the following:
|
F. Systems performance training in support of ACO or shared savings related initiatives |
Hospitals interested in systems performance training should consider adopting a framework approach in transitioning to value-based system planning such as one of the following:
|
G. Telehealth and mobile health hardware/software |
Training hardware/software that supports the application and implementation of telehealth and/or telemedicine. This does NOT include telecommunications. Tablets and hardware/software investments are allowed if they are used by staff to improve operational efficiencies and telehealth services.
|
H. Community paramedicine hardware/software and training |
Community Paramedic Program (CPP) training. If the hospital and/or hospital-owned ambulance unit has a formal CPP, then hardware/software can be purchased to support the CPP to reduce emergency medical services (EMS) and emergency department misuse and readmissions. However, use of SHIP funding for general EMS equipment is not allowable. |
I. Health Information Technology (HIT) training for value and ACOs |
SHIP supports HIT hardware/software and training, therefore, it would be beneficial to include risk assessments and/or trainings associated with cybersecurity. |
* New or expanded activities and examples
Provided below is a bar graph of the number of hospitals between FY2016 - FY2018 that invested in ACO specific investment activities.
Resource List
- Transition Toolkit
- Quality Improvement for CMS Abstraction & Reporting Tool (CART), IHI Plan Do Study Act (PDSA), Root Cause Analysis (RCA), TeamSTEPPS and Lean Process planning
- Community Care Coordination and Chronic Care Management for tools to develop an integrated care delivery system and resources on care coordination models
- Population Health Management for resources on Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) and tools to identify key populations
- Strategic Planning for system approach planning tools to develop and execute effective strategic plans
- Self-assessment for Transition Planning available to identify performance improvement opportunities and areas for growth and development
- Population Health Portal Readiness Assessment to identify steps, resources and educational modules to support population health planning
- Rural Health Value (RHV) Toolkit for resources on facilitating health care transformation
- RHV Toolkit ties strategies to health information technology and population health technology
- Educational trainings on Population Health and Community Care Coordination available through HELP webinars
- Community Paramedicine Topic Guide defines community paramedicine and provides examples of existing models
- Telehealth Use in Rural Healthcare Models and Innovations provides examples of telehealth projects