ACOs surge, but will they work this time?

Accountable care organizations (ACO) could ultimately cost more money and not necessarily improve care quality, according to a new article in this month's Health Affairs. Not all experts are convinced ACOs will deliver on promises of better quality and cost savings. Authors Lawton R. Burns and Mark V. Pauly of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School suggested ACOs have too much in common with the failed integrated delivery networks of the 1990s to succeed, Kaiser Health News reported.

Although organizations have better technology and infrastructure in place this time around, in addition to lower risk of profit loss by hiring more individual physicians, these advantages may not be enough to overcome today's challenges, they said. --Read the full article on FiercePracticeManagement