A capacity crowd is expected at the ACO Summit being hosted by the North Carolina Medical Society on Saturday, August 7, 2010.  More than 100 physicians are expected, making it one of the largest meetings ever held at the NCMS offices. (See Agenda).

Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) are an emerging health care delivery model in which groups of providers join together to coordinate and improve quality and efficiency of health care by fostering greater accountability in health care delivery.  Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) is considered a model that is consistent with ACO standards, which are among the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Under the law, ACOs will be accountable for quality, cost and overall care of Medicare beneficiaries. The ACO Summit will seek to address how new business models can improve delivery of health care. (Click here to read Focus on Health Care Reform: Accountable Care Organizations and the Medicare Shared Savings Program.)

Read  the Current  Draft Policy on Accountable Care Organizations and offer your comments. The NCMS Board of Directors will consider the ACO report at its meeting in September. Please be sure to e-mail your comments by August 30, 2010 to Melanie Phelps, [email protected].  Following Board approval, the report will move on to the NCMS House of Delegates and will be heard in reference committee at our Annual Meeting in October.

Presentations and materials from the ACO Summit can be found on  the NCMS Health System Reform page, https://www.compassionatecarenc.org/healthreform, beginning Monday, August 9, 2010.