Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)

The meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs), healthcare reform and ongoing pressure to improve clinical and financial performance will drive six trends that we expect will impact providers in 2013, say two executives at CTG Health Solutions

Earlier this month, the Health Research Institute at PriceWaterhouseCoopers consulting firm released a new report, “Top health industry issues of 2013: Picking up the pace on health reform.” PWC’s John Edwards, director of the consulting firm’s healthcare advisory division, shares his perspectives on the most pressing challenges facing healthcare IT leaders right now. Here’s a hint: think data and information systems, not IT per se.

What does a technology platform for accountable care look like? What tools do organizations need to allow them to integrate clinical, claims, patient-reported and public health data into a patient-centric data model? Healthcare Informatics recently interviewed several chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), and consultants involved in creating accountable care organizations (ACOs), and a consensus seems to be developing about the areas of infrastructure they need to bolster.

According to officials at CMS, December was the single largest monthly payout of EHR incentives in the program’s history. Roughly $1.2 billion went to eligible hospitals and eligible physicians in December, bringing the total estimated payout to $10.3 billion. The bulk of the payments went to EHs, who received $1 billion in Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments. EPs received $175 million in Medicare payments and $80 million in Medicaid payments.

On Jan. 7, James Turnbull, chief information officer (CIO) at the Salt Lake City-based University of Utah Health Care (UUHC), was named the 2012 John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year Award. Recently, he spoke with HCI Assistant Editor Rajiv Leventhal to talk about his role as CIO and the current and future state of health IT.