Essay Sample on Accountable Care Organization: Quality Healthcare Services for Patients

Introduction

Accountable Care Organization are legal systems that coordinate, manage, and provide healthcare services. For instance, hospitals, health care providers, and doctors who come together to provide quality health care to the patients. These systems unite together to provide efficient and high-quality care services. The Coordination of the health care system ensures patients get the right assistance and care from the doctors. Since establishment, this system has a lot of impact on the population relying on it, in terms of health care services. Bundle Care was a concept developed to improve the outcomes of the critical condition in health care. The health care system is facing a lot of challenges in finances management. These systems should show be accountable for raising prices to patients. This information is briefly discussed below.

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Accountable care organization (ACO) is governed by three principles' first one is improving health care for its beneficiaries. The second one is improving health care services to its population and finally reducing financial expenditure for the beneficiaries. ACO is accountable for ensuring affordable and quality services offered to the patients (Shay &Micky,2013). Michigan developed some rules and regulations that govern ACO. In order to comply with these regulations, there must be some representatives such as; advocates of patients and beneficiaries from medicare.ACO's governing system provides guidance and support to the organization in order to achieve its mission of improving quality care.

According to Michigan law on governance, any organization that partners with ACO should have a State law that governs its obligations ( Shay & Micky,2013). For example, the United States health care system falls under the federal government regulation. The Public health care system in the US is mandated by the constitution. The system has the following roles; promoting the welfare of its people, promoting the federal policies that govern state and locals, and coordinating various services in the department of health. Accountable Care Organizations have positive health benefits to the population due to its ability to enhance quality, and affordable services are offered to people

The Bundle of care was developed in 2001 by the Voluntary Hospital Association (VHA). The hospital requested the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to initiate the program of the Idealized Design Intensive Care Unit (IDICU). The idea of starting this project was to overlook the kind of services delivered in intensive care units (Resar, Griffin, Haraden &Nolan,2014). Establishing this facility in the hospitals helped doctors to identify how to approach a patient in critical condition. This unit is in charge of admitting patients whose conditions are very critical and delicate. Introduction of Bundle care concept enhanced communication and teamwork. To make this process effective, the following should be considered; goal setting, being disciplined, and patient care discussion.

Most of the health organizations dealing with Bundle care face a lot of risk in this field. Achieving economies of scale is one of the risks being experienced by this organization because of relying on bundled payment. These organizations are unable to identify their financial gains. This occurs due to the lack of enough facilities that monitor patients while they recover. Partnering with post-acute care facilities in this sector is very risky for many organizations (Resar et al,2014). In this sector, getting partners who have high value is a challenge; therefore, most of the health care services vary depending on the market or the facility. They face management issues such as health care costs with most of the organizations they have partnered in this field. Controlling their spending outside and inside their facility becomes a hard task for them. For example, they have to deal with unnecessary spending with their patient organization groups. Medications may bring adverse effects and complications to the patient. This is because the doctor cannot predict whether the patient will adhere to the medication care plan.

These are the benefits of showing price care for patients. Health care providers charge different prices for their services, even for common procedures that require less attention. Patients have faced a lot of exploitation while seeking medical services. Most of the consumers prefer to choose low-cost providers rather than high cost (Gustafsson &Bishop,2019). This has created a lot of competition among caregivers. Patients require a health care system that is transparent to avoid making bad decisions while choosing the correct care system. Hospitals should provide a price list indicating the charges for all services they are offering. Displaying these prices ensures transparency and trust is built among the patients and the hospital.

It creates understanding between the doctor and the patient. Medical doctors should communicate with the patient about the cost of their services before medication (Gustafsson &Bishop,2014). During this time of consultation, the patient is given a chance to agree with the price set. Communication benefits the patient in so many ways, such as considering the patient's insurance status or self-payment method. It helps the patient to avoid unnecessary spending when seeking the services. This helps the patient to avoid misusing money by choosing a suitable treatment service.

Conclusion

To sum up, the healthcare system has brought a lot of changes, for example, through the Accountable Care Organization. According to Michigan, the implementation of this system has improved the health care of all the people. Accountable Care Organization supports other organizations it has partnered with to ensure quality health care. The establishment of Bundle care has helped most of the hospitals to treat critical patients who require a lot of attention. Showing price care to patients promotes transparency and understanding.

References

Gustafsson, L., & Bishop, S. (2019). Hospital Price Transparency: Making it useful for patients. Retrieved from: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2019/hospital-price-transparency-making-it-useful-patients

Resar, R., Griffin, F. A., Haraden, C., & Nolan, T. W. (2014). Using care bundles to improve health care quality. IHI innovation series white paper. Cambridge (MA): Institute for Healthcare Improvement; 2012.

Shay, P. D., & Mick, S. S. (2013). Post-acute care and vertical integration after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Journal of Healthcare Management, 58(1), 15-27.