Accountable Care Partners (ACO)
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together to give coordinated high quality care to their Medicare patients. The goal is to provide patients with timely care, while limiting unnecessary spending that occurs with duplication of services and medical errors.
When an ACO succeeds in delivering cost-effective, high-quality care, it will benefit everyone involved in the Medicare program.
Medicare offers several ACO programs:
- Medicare Shared Savings Program—a program that helps a Medicare fee-for-service program become an ACO.
- Advance Payment ACO Model—a supplementary incentive program for selected participants in the Shared Savings Program.
Organizations across the country have already transformed the way they deliver care, in ways similar to the ACOs that Medicare supports.
