by Holly Hayes
The Austin-Ameircan Statesman reported this week Austin Regional Clinic (ARC) and Seton, two of the largest health care providers in Central Texas, are creating an “Accountable Care Organization (ACO), a collaboration of doctors, clinics and hospitals seeking to coordinate care so that patients receive more attention, especially patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes”.
Since enactment of the 2010 federal health care law, Accountable Care Organizations have become one of the newest buzzwords in medical care. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced the creation of 32 Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations around the country for Medicare patients. They could save up to $1.1 billion over five years, she said.
The Seton/Austin Regional partnership, called the Seton Health Alliance, is one of two approved in Texas. The other is North Texas Specialty Physicians and includes doctors in Tarrant, Johnson and Parker counties.
Dr. Norman Chenven, CEO and founder of Austin Regional Clinic, said communication between patients and health care providers is expected to improve under the arrangement. The system will use information technology to “make care more organized and more focused” on the individual, he said. “We will hire nurses and staff to contact each patient and go over what they need. … I think this is the way health care will be practiced in the future.”
Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a staff writer for The New Yorker has said, “The lesson of the high-quality, low-cost communities is that someone has to be accountable for the totality of care. Otherwise, you get a system that has no brakes.”
As it relates to our practice of conflict engagement in healthcare, Joe Swedish, President and CEO of Trinity Health states, “The compelling point is that an ACO is not an entity, but rather a set of competencies and relationships that are foundational for transformation of care delivery.”
Over the next few weeks, we will focus on the successful creation of the relationships that are the foundation of the ACO model.
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Holly Hayes is a mediator at Karl Bayer, Dispute Resolution Expert where she focuses on mediation of health care disputes. Holly holds a B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a Masters in Health Administration from Duke University. She can be reached at holly@karlbayer.com.
