The inaugural RISE ACO Connect will take place September 30-October 1 at the Paris Las Vegas. All ACO professionals are invited to attend the two-day conference, which features networking and educational opportunities to enhance risk adjustments and quality programs. In this article, RISE features select sessions and interviews with speakers about the event.
Whether your organization is just starting its journey as an accountable care organization (ACO) or five years into the program, the RISE ACO Connect will offer invaluable insights and connections to drive your success.
Kenneth Persaud, M.D., CEO, White-Wilson Medical Center, one of the speakers at a session on how to create and maintain a financially stable, small to mid-sized ACO, believes the timing is right for a conference devoted to ACOs.
For nearly two decades, he says, the industry has had different models of payments and delivery systems that were all intended to focus on patient outcomes and provider organizations reorienting their care delivery or their health care systems to support better patient outcomes. “I think accountable care organizations really are taking the forefront in the innovation and the relationship between payers and providers. So, no matter where you are in the country, across the country accountable care is kind of a foray in providers experimenting how to transition from fee-for-service into value-based care.”
Providers, or providers and payers, must come together to coordinate care and take on some financial risk, according to Dr. Persaud. “That's something that's new for a lot of organizations. So, I think any forum where we can learn from other folks who have preceded us to network and build best practices together, I think it's a terrific opportunity for organizations.”
Dr. Persaud will share the stage on the first day of the conference with Lance Donkerbrook, chief executive officer, Commonwealth Primary Care ACO, for the session on small to mid-sized ACOs. Dr. Persaud said he’s hoping that the session will be of interest to organizations that aim to improve patient experience across the continuum of care, regardless of their setting or their specialty. The discussion will include how to leverage your care management programs, electronic medical records, analytics, and capabilities so that all the responsibility is shared across the organizations. “We can’t just dump this on our providers because providers are already busy," he said. "We need a team approach. We need a care model approach to have a chance at success."
While large systems have a tremendous number of resources available from people, processes, and technology, Dr. Persaud says small to mid-sized provider groups don’t have a big budget or a large amount of people. “At the end of the day, it’s about delivering high-quality care to patients…So, how do you do this? How do you pick your entry point? How are smaller groups doing that? How do these groups pull this off? What are they leveraging? What’s the top priority?”
Athena Santos, MPH, CRC, executive director, quality performance and value, AdventHealth Primary Care Network, is one of the speakers at a session on the ACO REACH model. Santos’ organization has been involved in many alternative payment models and despite some progress, she says the health care industry remains stuck in a fee-for service model because it’s structured to pay providers immediately for the services they deliver. Fee-for-service is what keeps the lights on, staff paid, and the doors open, she says.
“Whereas the government models as well as the Shared Savings Model are working hard to try to pay out earlier than 18 months later. You can see the struggles within those different payment models, both with capitation with ACO Reach or quarterly bonuses coming from some of the Shared Savings Program that come out of the year and savings. So that’s when it’s all been evaluated 18 months-plus later, we don’t have to wait for that to pay the staff and pay the light bill.”
Until the value-based models can pay out more frequently, Santos says the industry will be stuck in a fee-for-service world.
Meanwhile, she says there is a continual need for the establishments of community-based organizations (CBOs) and then connections with larger health systems and those CBOs. “We need to have some kind of universal process answer to say this is how it’s done and it’s scalable to the size of the practice and that’s the way we’re going to reach people. That’s the way we’re going to be successful in ACO REACH…You know you can go ahead and say thanks to the government for reimbursing us more for this bottom quartile of people in the ACO REACH model, but it’s important to say I’m actually making a difference in these patients lives and connecting them with the resources they need that are sustainable that have been vetted.”
The inaugural RISE ACO Connect will take place September 30-October 1 at the Paris Las Vegas. Click here for the full agenda, roster of speakers, and how to register.