Accountable care organizations need robust health IT to be successful, according to a study in the Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore analyzed the traits of the first 235 ACOs in the country. Along with committed and ready leadership and care coordination strategies, effective health IT and analytics capabilities were the three characteristics determined to be shared by successful ACOs.
In order to achieve the necessary quality and efficiency improvements, ACOs need more than just a basic electronic health record. They "require comprehensive and integrated data and analytic systems that provide meaningful population data to inform care teams in real time, promote quality improvement and monitor spending trends," according to the study's authors.
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