I heard this question while wandering around the HIMSS conference. It made me pause and think.
The healthcare system in the US is designed to fix problems after they occur. Payments are made this way and patients are, with few exceptions, accustomed to waiting until something is really painful, bloody, or non-functioning before they seek medical attention.
ACOs are experiments to change mindset. They provide incentives across the healthcare supply chain to be more preventive. Everyone knows it is far cheaper to prevent a problem than to treat a problem, yet few are willing to change this. A well planned, well run ACO can change this. The ultimate outcome is healthier patients at substantially lower costs to keep them healthy.
For example, a children’s hospital might consider community outreach to curb childhood obesity. This is a perfect ACO scenario. It catches children before they have chronic problems, shows the hospital’s goodwill in the community and saves the patients and payors money.
Diabetes is a growing problem. ACOs can work with local employers to identify cohorts of potential diabetic patients by searching for weight, diet and lifestyle problems. Then they can work with the employers to treat them before the before they become chronic.
Why should you care? Because it is the change everyone needs. Because there are programs underway to drive this change. Because it establishes your health system for community outreach.
