In an on-going effort to make the transformation of a medical practice to an accountable care organization (ACO) more understandable, the Toward Accountable Care Consortium (TACC) and Initiative in conjunction with Julian D. “Bo” Bobbitt of the Smith Anderson law firm and Horne CPAs and Business Advisors has released the seminal guide to sharing the savings that such organizations can realize.
The initiative, which is spearheaded by the North Carolina Medical Society, has been supported through a generous grant from The Physician’s Foundation. Smith Anderson’s Bobbitt along with specialty specific work groups have authored several toolkits on the essential elements to ACO success, with more in the works.
“Our nation is in the midst of an inexorable shift in health care delivery from “pay for volume” to “pay for value.” It is well documented that our current largely fee-for-service system is unsustainable and that a dramatic incentive shift must occur,” writes Bobbitt in the introduction to this latest document. “Every provider needs to be committed to providing the highest quality at the lowest cost. This is the fundamental goal of the pay-for-value system.”
“Distribution Based on Contribution: A Merit-Based Shared Savings Distribution Model,” provides details on how savings can be realized through use of quality metrics and outcome-based care of specific populations of patients. This model of care has been shown to generate savings, and this guide discusses how to equitably distribute them based on the contributions to those overall savings.
Download a copy of the the Shared Savings toolkit. (PDF)
This is an emerging model of care, and the data still is being gathered, but this guide represents a huge step forward in illustrating the benefits to patients, doctors and the overall health care system through a fictional practice called We Care ACO, which is based on real life experiences of ACOs currently operating in North Carolina.
The move toward value-based care is central to many of the health reforms being discussed today at both the state and federal levels. The TACC and its 38 member organizations in North Carolina are dedicated to providing the health care community with the tools and resources necessary to implement this model.
