Memorial Healthcare System (Hollywood, FL) joined Premier Inc's (Charlotte, NC) ACO Implementation Collaborative.

Memorial Healthcare System (Hollywood, FL) joined Premier Inc's (Charlotte, NC) ACO Implementation Collaborative, which includes 23 health systems representing more than 80 hospitals and 1.5 million patients nationwide. Memorial also joined Premier's QUEST®: High Performing Hospitals collaborative, a voluntary, three-year project designed to optimize hospital performance in five critical areas: cost-effectiveness, evidence-based care delivery, mortality reduction, harm reduction and patient satisfaction.

Building an ACO takes time and work

Many hospitals and healthcare systems across the country are beginning to put plans in place to launch Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). This takes time, commitment and a great deal of work to put the appropriate pieces in place. The video below is a bit of a spoof on the topic but it drives home the point that creating an ACO cannot just happen overnight.

http://actionforbetterhealthcare.com/?p=1246

Can ACOs Crack the Healthcare Payment Code?

Whether it's called "healthcare reform" or "Obamacare," the multi-year march toward an overhaul of the nation's healthcare delivery system begins this week. Thoughtful people may agree to disagree on the merits of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law six months ago. But the effects it will have on physicians, hospitals, and payers will be stressful for all. Expect some discomfort.

http://healthplans.hcpro.com/content.cfm?topic=HEP&content_id=256778

Details on October Meeting About Legal Issues For ACOs Provided by Federal Enforcement Agencies

Federal enforcement agencies have released a preliminary agenda of an Oct. 5 workshop to gather industry-wide comments on possibly changing federal laws and regulations to protect accountable care organizations from prosecution, according to a notice in the Federal Register.

The day-long workshop will be held by the Federal Trade Commission, HHS Office of Inspector General and CMS at CMS offices in Baltimore and available by teleconference. It will address antitrust, physician self-referral, anti-kickback and civil monetary penalty issues.

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-physician-relationships/details-on-october-meeting-about-legal-issues-for-acos-provided-by-federal-enforcement-agencies.html

Indiana's Community Health Network Developing ACO

Indianapolis-based Community Health Network is in the processes of developing an accountable care organization, saying it has a head start on other hospitals in the Indianapolis market, according to an Indianapolis Business Journal report.

The hospital not only held on to the primary care physicians it acquired in the 1990s, but in the last two years also added another 350 physicians, including specialists. The hospitals now has 550 physicians, either employed or with integration contracts, who receive some sort of incentive payments from the hospital for meeting certain quality and communication measures, according to the report.

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-physician-relationships/indianas-community-health-network-developing-aco.html

5 Key Regulatory Concerns for ACOs

Hospitals looking to develop accountable care organizations face the same regulatory concerns and hurdles that hospitals have long grappled with in their physician integration efforts. Specifically, ACOs must ensure that their agreements with physicians do not violate anti-kickback statutes, Stark Law, the Civil Monetary Penalty, tax-exemption laws and/or anti-trust regulations.

Previous and current Medicare demonstration projects involving bundled or incentive payments have granted exceptions to many of these regulations, and it is expected the Medicare ACO demonstration created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will do the same, although specific guidelines for the project will not be released until December. Given that specific guidelines are forthcoming, hospitals that develop ACOs must consider how their integration efforts will be viewed in light of these regulations.

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-financial-and-business-news/5-key-regulatory-concerns-for-acos.html

CIGNA and Piedmont Physicians Group Launch Accountable Care Organization Pilot Program in Atlanta for Better Care Coordination

BLOOMFIELD, Conn. & ATLANTA, Sep 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --Program includes a registered nurse clinical care coordinator funded by CIGNA

--First accountable care organization in Georgia
CIGNA /quotes/comstock/13*!ci/quotes/nls/ci (CI 33.62, -0.14, -0.42%) and Piedmont Physicians Group, part of Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare, have launched an accountable care organization (ACO) pilot program. With a comprehensive, accountable and collaborative approach to medical care, the ACO pilot is expected to improve access to and quality of patient care, and provide better care coordination while lowering medical costs.

An ACO is a variation on the patient-centered medical home model of health care that rewards primary care doctors for improved outcomes and lower medical costs. CIGNA's program with Piedmont is one of the first patient-centered pilot programs in the Atlanta area involving a medical practice and a single private payer and is the first accountable care organization in Georgia.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cigna-and-piedmont-physicians-group-launch-accountable-care-organization-pilot-program-in-atlanta-for-better-care-coordination-2010-09-07?reflink=MW_news_stmp

Northwest Chicago finalizes merger with physician group

Arlington Heights-based Northwest Community Hospital said Wednesday it has finalized its acquisition of Riverwoods-based Affinity Healthcare, making the group's physicians and their staff direct employees of the hospital for the first time.

Northwest also is looking to acquire other physician groups as well, said Northwest spokesman Blaine Krage.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=405190

St. Francis Reinventing Itself

When St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center officials began mapping out a strategic plan about a year ago, the economy was still in shambles, sweeping health care reform was on the verge of passage and the future of the industry remained cloudy at best.

So how did the hospital’s CEO Christopher M. Dadlez prepare his top lieutenants for what seemed like an impossible task? He assigned them to read The Innovator’s Prescription, a popular book among health care visionaries that calls on the industry to completely transform itself.

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news14658.html