Blair G. Childs, senior vice president for public policy at Premier healthcare alliance, explains how Premier's new accountable care collaboratives are helping health systems to get ready to launch accountable care organizations.
Question: Nineteen health systems are in Premier's Implementation Collaborative. What criteria have they met?
Blair Childs: These health systems are pretty much ready to begin implementing an ACO. They have executive sponsorship and participation, a payor partner is participating and the physician network has a sufficient population base, at least 5,000 lives. There is transparency and acceptance of common cost and quality metrics, such as QUEST or HEDIS. The system has population health data infrastructure through an EHR and is linked with the payor. Going forward, these systems must participate in work groups and meetings. They need to set up a legal entity that will function as an ACO contracting vehicle.
Q: In addition, a larger group of hospitals and health systems have joined Premier's Readiness Collaborative. What are the requirements for them?
BC: These are organizations are looking to build an ACO but they don’t have all the components in place yet. To join the collaborative, they have to show a willingness to implement an ACO in the future and agree to participate in learning Webinars, networks and meetings with the Implementation Collaborative. They will need to perform a gap analysis to pinpoint areas they need to focus on and get ready to collect population-based measures. Since these organizations are expected to eventually join the Implementation Collaborative, they will need to achieve some key milestones toward that goal.
Q: How will the collaboratives change the way we view healthcare?
BC: The collaboratives will develop new approaches to primary, specialty and hospital care to reward care coordination, efficiency and productivity. One key attribute is "people-centeredness." Notice we didn’t say "patient-centeredness," because this is about a person's overall health, not just the acute episode of care.
Q: What component parts of an ACO will the collaboratives build?
BC: The "health home" is another term for the patient-centered medical home, which delivers primary care and manages health and wellness. Our term "high value networks" has to do with integrated networks of care. "Population health data management" refers to the crucial role IT plays in ACOs. This includes creating health information exchanges to enable care-coordination across provider networks. Our goal of "ACO leadership" refers to the governance structure and administrative requirements. "Payor partnerships" will create reimbursement models that provide incentives for improved outcomes, rewarding value rather than volume.
Learn more about the Premier accountable care collaboratives.
Question: Nineteen health systems are in Premier's Implementation Collaborative. What criteria have they met?
Blair Childs: These health systems are pretty much ready to begin implementing an ACO. They have executive sponsorship and participation, a payor partner is participating and the physician network has a sufficient population base, at least 5,000 lives. There is transparency and acceptance of common cost and quality metrics, such as QUEST or HEDIS. The system has population health data infrastructure through an EHR and is linked with the payor. Going forward, these systems must participate in work groups and meetings. They need to set up a legal entity that will function as an ACO contracting vehicle.
Q: In addition, a larger group of hospitals and health systems have joined Premier's Readiness Collaborative. What are the requirements for them?
BC: These are organizations are looking to build an ACO but they don’t have all the components in place yet. To join the collaborative, they have to show a willingness to implement an ACO in the future and agree to participate in learning Webinars, networks and meetings with the Implementation Collaborative. They will need to perform a gap analysis to pinpoint areas they need to focus on and get ready to collect population-based measures. Since these organizations are expected to eventually join the Implementation Collaborative, they will need to achieve some key milestones toward that goal.
Q: How will the collaboratives change the way we view healthcare?
BC: The collaboratives will develop new approaches to primary, specialty and hospital care to reward care coordination, efficiency and productivity. One key attribute is "people-centeredness." Notice we didn’t say "patient-centeredness," because this is about a person's overall health, not just the acute episode of care.
Q: What component parts of an ACO will the collaboratives build?
BC: The "health home" is another term for the patient-centered medical home, which delivers primary care and manages health and wellness. Our term "high value networks" has to do with integrated networks of care. "Population health data management" refers to the crucial role IT plays in ACOs. This includes creating health information exchanges to enable care-coordination across provider networks. Our goal of "ACO leadership" refers to the governance structure and administrative requirements. "Payor partnerships" will create reimbursement models that provide incentives for improved outcomes, rewarding value rather than volume.
Learn more about the Premier accountable care collaboratives.