New ACOs Emerging in San Francisco June 4, 2011 ACOs, Health Care Reform ACOs, health care reform, Patient centered medical home, PCMH 0 Two new accountable care organizations taking shape in Northern California may help determine what works and what doesn't in the new world of health care reform. After a successful launch of a two-year ACO pilot with 41,000 CalPERS members in Sacramento, Blue Shield of California, Catholic Healthcare West and Hill Physicians Medical Group will parlay their experience into a new ACO targeting 5,000 members of the San Francisco Health Service System. This time around, UCSF Medical Center will join the ranks. Another ACO -- partnering Brown & Toland Physicians, Blue Shield and California Pacific Medical Center -- will offer integrated care to 21,000 members of the S.F. Health Service system. Both ACOs are due to launch in July. The S.F. Health Service System provides health insurance for employees and retirees of the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco City College and the Superior Court of San Francisco. Exactly how ACOs work and where they fit in reform are still to be determined, but there is little doubt that ACOs -- called for and somewhat defined in the Affordable Care Act -- will have significant influence on how health care is delivered and paid for. ACOs differ from HMOs in that they serve explicitly as health care delivery systems, not as insurers contracting with a network of providers, according to the Commonwealth Fund. The two San Francisco ACOs have the same goal as the CalPERS pilot -- avoiding premium increases. For the full article, please visit California Healthline. Source: http://www.californiahealthline.org/features/2011/new-acos-emerging-in-northern-california.aspx. Comments are closed.
