Cost Conundrum: How Accountable Are ACO’s?

Among the many ways the Affordable Care Act tries to drive down healthcare costs is through Accountable Care Organizations.

acoJust what are ACOs? HMOs in drag? And are they working?

Here’s how we see the ACO landscape today:

  • Although their launch has been somewhat troubled, Accountable Care Organizations are here to stay.
  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is driving the adoption of ACOs, with some private payers joining in.
  • Data collection and analysis hold out the promise of reducing inefficiencies.
  • ACOs don’t take on a lot of risk if they can avoid it. That in turn will affect how much money they can actually save the healthcare system.
  • In a related development, some payers – including a new industry alliance – are looking closely at the role of health insurance third-party administrators (TPAs), to see if further cost can be taken out of the system there.

What Is an ACO?

First, a bit about terminology. While ACOs undertake some responsibility for the cost of delivering care, they are not “all in,” as are HMOs. (For a good video explaining ACOs, see this from Kaiser Health News.)

Here’s how healthcare economist Austin Frakt, writing in the New York Times, explains the differences between ACOs and HMOs: Continue reading “Cost Conundrum: How Accountable Are ACO’s?”

IORT with Oncoplastic Surgery: A Beautiful Combination?

Julie Reiland SOS 2016 (1)
Julie Reiland, MD, FACS

Breast cancer care continues to see remarkable growth in knowledge of the disease and advances in treatment. That was certainly evident at the recent School of Oncoplastic Surgery (SOS), in Dallas last month.

The school, which was founded by breast surgeon Gail Lebovic, M.D. with a grant from the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, recently had its eighth annual session in Dallas. This year’s session was sponsored by the National Consortium of Breast Centers and the American Society of Breast Disease Clinical Track.

Among the highlights of that three-day training workshop was a talk by Julie Reiland, MD, FACS. An SOS faculty member, Dr. Reiland is a breast surgeon at Avera Medical Group Comprehensive Breast Care, in Sioux Falls, SD. Speaking to a packed room at SOS, Dr. Reiland talked about the convergence of oncoplastic surgery and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT).

In particular she talked about Continue reading “IORT with Oncoplastic Surgery: A Beautiful Combination?”