Accountable Care

Program cements two payment tracks and "pick your pace" approach while setting aside money to support small practices.

But the challenge isn't easy for accountable care organization practices that lack IT support, Farzad Mostashari says.

Leaders from the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce said healthcare providers need more time.

The newest ACO program by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offers higher opportunities for incentive payments if participating providers agree to take on more risk.

DeKalb Physician Hospital Organization and UnitedHealthcare have jointly launched an accountable care program that will dedicate more resources to coordinating patient care and making it easier to share health information, the two announced Thursday.

Accountable care organizations in Medicare's Shared Savings program will now be held to regional spending benchmarks and not national ones, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday, responding to criticism that the earlier rules made it too difficult for strong-performing providers to see savings.

ACO Partner takes on upfront costs of services and technology for physician practices, other providers to transform to value-based payments.

Accountable care organizations that participated in the first full year of Medicare Shared Savings saw early reductions in spending that eroded a year later, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Aetna and St. John Health System in Oklahoma on Thursday said it will launch the Aetna Whole Health St. John OKHI network, a value-based reimbursement partnership that hopes to result in lower overall out-of-pocket costs for patients in the network.

The Aetna Whole Health-Virtua plan will be introduced in South Jersey later this year and will use Virtua's community-based health system of hospitals, outpatient facilities, urgent care centers, and health and wellness centers.