Some Accountable Care Organizations Are Showing Improved Patient Outcomes and Lower Costs: Still Unclear How Payment Will Be Made for Clinical Laboratory Tests
Clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups should develop business strategies designed to support better patient outcomes and reduced costs for ACO patients
Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) are not only growing in number but some ACOs are also reporting outcomes that indicate their value-based reimbursement model may produce better results for patients than traditional fee-for-service (FFS) medicine.
For the pathology profession, this news further emphasizes the need for medical laboratories and group pathology practices to have a seat at the table during the organization of ACOs so they can make a clinical contribution and negotiate adequate reimbursement from the fixed fees paid to ACOs. At the moment, one big question for labs is how they are to be paid under a value-based reimbursement model. (more…)
