New Platforms in Healthcare Technology

Health information technology is not less than a boom in the field of healthcare. Health technology significantly improves the quality of healthcare, increases patient satisfaction and safety, reduces number of medical errors, and also fortifies the interaction between patients and healthcare providers. In a 2010 survey titled Technology, medical tests 'changing the face of health care', Amy Bernstein, the report's lead author, a health scientist for the National Center for Health Statistics said that, “Technologies can be very helpful, there are newer and better technologies all the time, and they're changing the face of health care and practice patterns". To markup the value of E-Care Management, health information technology plays a vital role in improving healthcare delivery in America.

This aid has a repertoire of offerings to help patients and doctors to critically analyze more in the field of medicine. However, with the rapid increase in usage of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), the creation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), and the rise of health information exchanges, the delivery of medical care became more trouble-free, study said. The following technologies are also considered to be a part of health technology, study said:

1. Drugs: e.g., antibiotics, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, beta-blockers, antibiotics,
2. Biologics: gene therapies, antibodies
3. Devices: e.g., pacemakers, CT scanners
4. Diagnostic tests: e.g. DNA fecal test for colorectal cancer, genome sequencing
5. Medical and surgical procedures: e.g., psychotherapy, coronary angiography
6. Support systems: e.g., electronic patient record systems, telemedicine systems,
7. Organizational and managerial systems: e.g., cholesterol management program, billing and accounting.

All above stated paradigms are unique contribution in healthcare IT, since they can easily:

• Prevent
• Screen
• Diagnose
• Treat
• Rehabilitate 
• Assist to reduce errors

This is not the end, there's still room for improvement, says Lloyd Michener, director of the Duke Center for Community Research. "It's a call for accelerated efforts that will build partnerships between academic medical centers and public health groups in order to address some of our persistent health issues”, stated in a survey. More progress in medical technologies will endeavor better healthcare delivery with improved life expectancy and quality of life.

Accountable Care organization (ACO) – Incorporation of pay-for-performance oriented results.

ACO’s are authorized entities that refer to a group of providers (e.g. physicians, caregivers and hospitals) that works collectively to provide coordinated care to Medicare beneficiaries for minimum period of three years. The key objective to induce ACO is to decrease healthcare expenses, improve care-quality and develop patient commitment. According to a survey, Health and Human Services (HHS) declared 89 fresh ACOs in agreement with CMS, promising to provide quality care to the people associated with Medicare. For more details, go with this page.

      

ACO implementation has now become a necessary action for any physician. To empower primary care and earn patient accountability, the physician had to offer best suited practices to handle cost and sustain quality control. Every physician wants to line up the business with complete care coordination. To succeed as an ACO, providers must apply seamless efficiency to improve medical quality, customer satisfaction and effective performance oriented measures with overall costs reduction. Herewith, physician’s responsibility gets very much critical.  

Following are the types of providers which can participate as a Medicare ACO:

1. Physicians and other professionals in group practice arrangements
2.  Physicians and other professionals in networks of practices
3. Partnerships or joint venture arrangement between hospitals and physicians or other health professionals
4. Other forms the HHS Secretary may determine to be appropriate

US law purposed multi-faceted challenges for the physicians’ to implement new standards for healthcare, reimbursement and information technology. With this fact, majority physicians become more responsible for delivering their services in future.

Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Workflow

Accountable Care Organization and Its Payment Model

Accountable care organizations (ACO’s) are future of USA healthcare system. It is an idea of how USA wants to see its future healthcare system that goes beyond just billing for services to wellness of a defined population. ACO is a group of doctors or coordinated care system under one legal entity i.e. Medicare. It works with the aim of improving health outcomes and reducing healthcare expenditures. Till the time there are about 221 ACOs working across 45 states. ACOs are growing at an exponential rate and providers are quickly moving to be part of an ACO.  After becoming a successful part of an ACO, the physicians will get payments according to one of following methods:

1. Shared savings
2. Advance payments
3. Bundled payments

Most of the ACOs will adopt the policy of advance payments. The success or failure of ACOs depends on how effectively it improves patient care and reduces healthcare expenditure. Let’s see how many ACOs survive in coming years. According to this policy, there are three types of payments that providers can expect by participating in ACO.

•  Fixed payment
• Variable payment depending on number of beneficiaries
• Monthly payment depending on size of ACO.

Basic purpose of its launch is to amplify the providers’ role in joining or establishing an ACO. This paradigm will positively encourage a number of providers to gain the potential benefits of ACO’s, with extensive reduction in administrative expenses & increase in their practice revenues. Pursuing new trends of payment model will help the providers to deliver lower-cost but high-quality health care that will bring a better care coordination system in future.