Accountable Care Organizations
What is an ACO?
ACOs are voluntary collaborations of physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers to deliver coordinated, high-quality care to their Medicare beneficiaries. Coordination of care is to ensure that patients receive the appropriate care at the appropriate time, while avoiding excessive duplication of services and medical errors. When an ACO delivers both high-quality treatment and more prudent spending of health care dollars, the ACO will share in the savings realized by the Medicare programmer.