We are an Accountable Care Organization.
Elevated Healthcare Through Accountability
Think Whole Person Healthcare is constantly working to evolve its services for the better in an effort to improve both overall patient outcomes and patient satisfaction. A large part of this effort can be seen in the formation of Think Healthcare ACO, LLC, an Accountable Care Organization (ACO).
What Is an Accountable Care Organization?
An ACO is a network of physicians and specialists, working together to share both the financial and medical responsibility of its patients through high-quality care and cost savings. Introduced by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) in reaction to increased healthcare spending for those in the Baby Boomer population.
Stated plainly, an ACO is held to stringent quality standards in terms of care, but also in terms of cost savings for the patient. When these standards are met, CMS awards the ACO with a gainsharing payment, with a percentage being shared with ACO providers.
Unlike shared savings programs where physicians are incentivised to refer to the least expensive service, gainsharing cannot happen if key quality measures are not achieved. Additionally, each patient assigned to an ACO is individually assessed, and quality and costs are measured against their individual risk score.
An Outstanding Model for Whole Person Health
When Think Whole Person Healthcare was created, the ACO model presented a structure that was in line with our values, and a solution to many of the problems that we saw with traditional healthcare models. The ACO model, combined with our focus on coordinated care, fosters a highly-beneficial environment for our patients with multiple chronic illnesses.
We find that everyone benefits from high quality healthcare at lower costs. The ever-changing landscape of Medicare reimbursement continuously challenges us to improve our service and maintain costs. As part of our healthcare model, we continue to identify specialists that share the same Whole Person approach to healthcare to join the Think Whole Person Healthcare organization.