How hospitals prepare for health IT in an ACO world

A survey by consulting firm Beacon Partners last month found that even though most hospital executives (92 percent) were planning an accountable care organization (ACO), almost half (48 percent) of them didn't know how an ACO would affect their own organization and whether it would improve care.

Amid the uncertainty around ACOs, our sister publication, FierceHealthcare, caught up with Jonathan P. Weiner, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Population Health IT and Johns Hopkins University professor of health policy and management and of health informatics, about IT preparations needed for ACOs. Hear what he has to say about care coordination, risk adjustment, and health information exchanges, and why electronic health records (EHR) are key to it all. Interview