{"id":816,"date":"2016-11-29T11:00:57","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imperialighi.wordpress.com\/?p=816"},"modified":"2019-03-29T10:41:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T10:41:04","slug":"implementing-accountable-care-to-achieve-better-health-at-a-lower-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/ighi\/2016\/11\/29\/implementing-accountable-care-to-achieve-better-health-at-a-lower-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Implementing accountable care to achieve better health at a lower cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"accountable_care_report-1\"<\/a>Most countries have well-established mechanisms to pay for medical treatments. However, many innovations – telemedicine, use of community health workers and lower-cost versions of treatments \u2013 are inadequately reimbursed, if reimbursed at all.<\/p>\n

Payment systems are often slow to support new care models, and understandably so: additional payments for innovations create fiscal concerns; innovations may not be cost-effective unless integrated appropriately with other services; and existing institutions may lack experience or clear authority to support new services. Accountable care can help to overcome such barriers.<\/p>\n

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Accountable care seeks to align health financing and regulatory systems with person centred care reforms and enable changing population health needs and opportunities to be addressed at a lower cost. We define accountable care as a group of providers who are held jointly accountable for achieving a set of outcomes for a defined population over a period of time and for an agreed cost. Evidence suggests that adopting accountable care through incremental policy changes or comprehensive payment reforms can reduce hospital readmissions, emergency department use and overall spending. Accountable care can also increase patient satisfaction, improve chronic disease management and prevent costly complications.<\/p>\n

However, to implement accountable care requires new organisational capabilities and professional expectations. Effective implementation is not only technical. It will involve putting into practice new performance measures and financing models, but also steps to support healthcare organisations in managing change.<\/p>\n

The new report \u2018Implementing accountable care to achieve better health at a lower cost\u2019<\/a> is up for discussion at today\u2019s World Innovation Summit for Health<\/a> (WISH) in Doha, Qatar.<\/p>\n

Report Focus\"16256199615_4d3c1c0813_b\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The report <\/a>defines accountable care as a group of providers who are held jointly accountable for achieving a set of outcomes for a defined population over a period of time and for an agreed cost. The authors draw on diverse case studies to illustrate how accountable care can be achieved through three different approaches:<\/p>\n