This policy brief from the Berkeley Center on Health, Economic & Family Security provides an overview of accountable care organizations (ACOs). It was authored by three of the national thought leaders advocating for ACOs, Stephen Shortell, Lawrence Casalino, and Elliot Fisher. The authors recommend a three-tier structure for ACOs, with payment-for-performance in the first tier, bundled payments and episode-of care-based payments in the second tier, and partial to global capitation in the third tier. The authors also recommend requiring Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance plans to offer patients a choice of at least one ACO.
The document also includes the table of contents from the California Association of Physician Groups’ primer on ACOs.
