Healthcare

Charles Darwin might have been talking about the world of healthcare when he said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

I was fortunate to have been invited to co-author a chapter on merit-based savings distribution models in The ACO Handbook: A Guide to Accountable Care Organizations, Second Edition with Bo Bobbitt.  Bo is a seasoned health care attorney who works with many ACOs and clinically integrated networks. He is with the Smith Anderson law firm in Raleigh, North Carolina, and speaks and writes on this subject extensively.

Breaking down the siloes that exist in our fragmented healthcare system requires the collaborative commitment of clinicians and facilities, and true clinical integration fosters (and, in turn, is promoted by) teamwork, transitional care, reduction in clinical variation, and information-sharing. For the ACO model to be successful, a correlation must exist between financial incentives and the common goals of improving experience of care for patients, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of healthcare.