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10 November 2010

AMGA Announces Collaborative on Implementing Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)
Medical Groups Will Strategize on How to Work Within the Regulations

ALEXANDRIA, VA - The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) recently announced the launch of its ACO Implementation Collaborative, scheduled to have its first meeting in January 2011. The association is inviting organizations that are beyond the initial developmental phase of forming Accountable Care Organizations to participate in this new learning collaborative.

In AMGA's ACO Implementation Collaborative, participants will learn how to:

Create governance and leadership structures that support aligned vision and mission around value-based health care
Integrate care across all healthcare providers, community/public agencies and social service organizations to work toward improved outcomes for broad patient populations
Maintain sufficient capital to fund all essential aspects of ACO implementation
Develop relationships/partnerships/agreements to support innovative pricing and distribution of premium dollars/shared savings
Avoid the legal pitfalls that may arise from current fraud and abuse and anti-kickback laws
Implement the Patient-Centered Medical Home model enterprise-wide and demonstrate continuous improvement on clinical outcomes, patient experience, and cost
Integrate mental health into primary care and develop end-of-life and palliative care programs that improve the patient experience and reduce cost
Implement IT systems that support measurement, monitoring, and reporting on both cost and quality

In addition, collaborative members will explore how other organizations have successfully transformed into ACOs and participate in a network of peers, content experts, and consultants-including individuals and organizations with five years of proven experience through the CMS Physician Group Practice Demonstration-who will assist you to successfully implement and improve existing capabilities. Collaborative members also will play an important role in developing methodologies consistent with the regulatory environment that lead to success-i.e., thresholds, patient attribution, risk adjustment, shared savings, etc.

To register for the collaborative, click here.

"AMGA and its member medical groups are the vanguard of health care in America, developing and delivering effective, efficient health care to the patients they serve," said Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., CAE, president and chief executive officer at AMGA. "For over a decade, AMGA has used learning collaboratives to improve organizational performance through systematic change, and recent reform legislation has inspired members to use the ACO model as an impetus to transform the delivery and financing of care. Through the ACO Implementation Collaborative, participants will create a community of knowledge that will assist them to transform their organizations into successful ACOs and provide best practices for future adopters."

AMGA is convening two collaboratives focused on ACOs: the Development Collaborative and an Implementation Collaborative. The collaboratives offer access to content experts and provide a forum in which peer organizations can learn from one another as they begin to build and refine business and care processes to develop high-quality, efficient, and sustainable systems of care that provide high-value care to their patients and communities. The first meeting of the ACO Development Collaborative took place October 1-2 in conjunction with the AMGA National Summit on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Participants in the Development Collaborative represent 22 healthcare organizations, more than 10,500 providers serving approximately 5 million patients in the United States. The first meeting of the ACO Implementation Collaborative will take place January 26-28, 2011 at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa, Scottsdale, Arizona.

The AMGA ACO Initiative is sponsored by Abbott, Bosch Healthcare, Daiichi Sankyo, OptumHealth, Ortho-McNeil, Phytel, Inc., Premera Blue Cross, sanofi-aventis, and VHA, Inc. For information of how to become and initiative sponsor, contact Fred Haag at fhaag@amga.org or (703) 838-0033, ext. 329.

Background
For many years, AMGA has pushed for reform efforts that foster the creation of community-based entities accountable for comprehensive healthcare services-referred to as ACOs in the newly passed healthcare legislation-that promote accountability and build on the practice patterns of high-performing organizations. The organization, in fact, provided guidance to congressional leaders on the appropriate language regarding ACOs and lobbied aggressively for its inclusion.

As part of its continuing efforts, the association hosted a series of regional meetings in 2010 that brought together the thought leaders of healthcare delivery systems to educate medical groups on how to develop, operate, and maintain high-performing ACOs. The meetings focused on physician-led, patient-centered ACOs and went beyond the theoretical by bringing together actual case studies presented by medical group leaders with firsthand experience in providing accountable care to their patients. AMGA's Institute for Quality Leadership (IQL), subtitled the "AMGA National Summit on ACOs," and the collaboratives will continue the work of the regional meetings by bringing groups from across the country to share their insights and strategies.

The American Medical Group Association represents medical groups, including some of the nation's largest, most prestigious medical practices, independent practice associations, and integrated healthcare delivery systems. AMGA's mission is to improve health care for patients by supporting multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care. The members of AMGA deliver health care to approximately 110 million patients in 49 states, nearly 1 in 3 Americans. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, AMGA is the strategic partner for medical groups, providing a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy, educational and networking programs and publications, benchmarking data services, and financial and operations assistance. www.amga.org

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