Accountable care is on a journey, but we need to find ways to get there faster because we still have a long way to go, Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, of Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, said Friday at Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health System's Population Health Symposium, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
"We're at the end of the beginning," in implementing ACOs, he said, according to the report.
As senior fellow and director of Health Care Innovation and Value Initiative at Brookings Institution, former CMS administrator and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. McClellan is considered a top U.S. health expert. At Friday's symposium, he said there is evidence coordinated, team-based healthcare can lower costs and improve patient results, and ACOs are starting to fulfill that role, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
According to Dr. McClellan, ACO programs around the country are starting to show patients the benefits of receiving more coordinated care with lower premiums or co-pays, but more work is needed.
"It's happening around the country. It does take legislation," he said, according to the report. "This is hard to do. It's a different way of paying. ... I think an important part of accountable care is making it more evident to patients and making this more patient driven."
More articles on accountable care:
Rush, Aetna roll out new ACO: Whole Health Chicago
Humana, Northwest Physicians Network to form ACO
Cigna, DeKalb PHO launch collaborative care initiative