This is a time of great change in health care – how patients access the system; how care is delivered; how it is paid for. The North Carolina Medical Society, as a key stakeholder in the resulting health reform policies, wants to ensure that any change serves the patient and their doctor. We have spearheaded programs and initiatives that focus on accountable care – a model that puts the patient at the center and focuses on the quality of care.

“As physicians, and capitalizing on the strengths of the NCMS, we need to take the leadership position and drive the needed changes on behalf of our patients before it is legislated upon us,” says Dr. John Meier, an internist and pediatrician at Wake Internal Medicine in Raleigh. Dr. Meier, an NCMS Foundation Leadership College alumnus, is an active participant in the North Carolina Accountable Care Collaborative and the Toward Accountable Care (TAC) Consortium and Initiative – both formed under the impetus of the NCMS.

“Accountable care organizations are an evolutionary step in care delivery,” Dr. Meier says. TAC offers toolkits for physicians looking at transforming their practice to this model of care including a guide to shared savings and specialty specific information. Each quarter the NC ACO Collaborative brings together a variety of groups at different stages in the process of transformation to this model of care to share their challenges and best practices as they grapple with the changing health care environment.