Mr. Chuck Tanner, FACHE, shared the following items of interest.

Topic -- Accountable Care Organizations

There is aways a "buzz" or most discussed topic during a conference. That Buzz Topic at the ACHE Congress was Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). Under the Afforaable Care Act, the topic of ACO was only four pages. So, the reason for this buzz is the program is scheduled to come out in 2014, little documentation on structure is available, most organizations use a five-year strategy and it is controversial given the lack of information (fear of the unknown). Most of the conference discussion was trying to figure out exactly what an ACO is, the reimbursement modality and the impact on the healthcare community. Rural executives, in particular, were concerned as it has impact on Critical Access Hospitals and patient flow.

Since returning, I have found some more information (recommended at the conference). The following link has many current documents and information related to this concept. In fact, some of this was only released April 5, 2011 so it is cutting edge stuff.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Other/2011/
Accountable-Care-Organizations.aspx

After reviewing this website, there is better information here than what was provided at the conference, so I will not relay that data to you. I do recommend you check out this website, even if only a cursory look. If you Google ACO you will start seeing the consultants coming out of the woodwork, too! Thus, it is my intent to alert you to a hot topic in HC administration being addressed in the mainland. It is hard to envision the impact on the Guam market, but there are some interesting items that may be interesting to explore here. So for your "professional reading" I offer this to you.

I also want to thank Stan Berry, FACHE, for hosting the dinner during the conference. It was a great time and it was great to connect with members in Hawaii!

Editor's Note: Mr. Chuck Tanner, FACHE, is the Administrator of the Guam Surgicenter/Island Cancer Center, Pacific Medical Management in Tamuning, Guam.

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