As of late 2012, about half of surveyed primary care physicians said they planned to adopt or join accountable care organizations (ACO), according to a report from the U.S. Physician and Payer Forum. Today, a new survey from ambulatory healthcare IT company eClinicalWorks suggests that alternative-care models such as ACOs and patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) have continued to gain traction.
In particular, the survey of 2,104 healthcare professionals in the United States (including 682 physicians) revealed that 53 percent of respondents already participate in an ACO or PCMH, while 34 percent who don't currently participate in such risk-based models plan to do so within the next three years.
The top reason that organizations want to join the accountable-care movement, according to the survey, is to improve patient outcomes (66 percent). Other key motivators include being able to better use resources across the healthcare system (41 percent) and maintaining market share (40 percent).
While almost all participants (95 percent) placed heavy importance on integrated electronic health records in achieving these goals, they cited several IT-related challenges. Specifically, 76 percent expressed concerns about effectively tracking and monitoring quality outcomes, followed by 72 percent experiencing difficulty ensuring care coordination for patients across multiple points of care.
In an announcement, Girish Kumar Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks, stated, "Our responsibility in this industry is to make sure these groups have the resources and technologies required to pursue better delivery of patient care."
To learn more:
- read the statement from eClinicalWorks
- see the related infographic|
- here's the report from U.S. Physician and Payer Forum