Premium
Hospitalist Value in an ACO World
Author(s) -
Li Jing,
Williams Mark V.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of hospital medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.128
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1553-5606
pISSN - 1553-5592
DOI - 10.12788/jhm.2965
Subject(s) - medicine , accountability , transformational leadership , payment , health care , hospital medicine , quality (philosophy) , quality management , healthcare system , nursing , value based purchasing , payment system , family medicine , public relations , operations management , finance , management system , business , philosophy , epistemology , political science , economics , law , economic growth
The accountable care organization (ACO) concept is advocated as a promising value‐based payment model that could successfully realign the current payment system to financially reward improvements in quality and efficiency. Focusing on the care of hospitalized patients and controlling a substantive portion of variable hospital expenses, hospitalists are poised to play an essential role in system‐level transformational change to achieve clinical integration. Especially through hospital and health system quality improvement (QI) initiatives, hospitalists can directly impact and share accountability for measures ranging from care coordination to implementation of evidence‐based care and the patient and family caregiver experience. Regardless of political terrain, financial constraints in healthcare will foster continued efforts to promote formation of ACOs that aim to deliver coordinated, evidence‐based, and patient‐centered care. Hospitalists possess the clinical experience of caring for complex patients with multiple comorbidities and the QI skills needed to lead efforts in this new ACO era.