Accountable Care Organization: I chose to write about the ACO. An ACO (Accountable Care Organization) is an innovative approach to healthcare where collaboration among different healthcare providers is imperative (American Nurses Association, 2010).
This is when a group of health care providers join together to accept financial responsibility for a patient (American Nurses Association, 2010). They also accept responsibility for the quality of care provided to their patients (American Nurses Association, 2010). Patients that are using ACO’s have their care managed more effectively while keeping everyone involved on the same page so that the care the patient is receiving is the best quality care possible.
An “ACO professional” is a physician or other provider that is essentially in charge of organizing the care and the one to offer leadership within the group (American Nurses Association, 2010). Another added benefit to an ACO is that it is patient driven care (American Nurses Association, 2010). The patient has a vested interest in their own care and is able to contribute to what will work or is not working for them (American Nurses Association, 2010).