The ACO handbook

"One of the most talked about new developments in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the Accountable Care Organization (ACO). The Act directs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to experiment with ways to employ high-performance provider organizations to deliver comprehensive care to a specific group of patients over an event, an episode, or a lifetime while assuming responsibility for the clinical and financial outcomes of that care. This new healthcare delivery method and others will require a level of cooperation and joint decision making that has often been lacking in traditional healthcare organizations in the United States. As the governing regulations are now final, we are pleased to bring you help in determining whether and/or how to implement this new concept"--P. [4] of cover.