Study IDs HIT as 'critical component" of successful ACOs

Health IT is one "critical component" to establishing a successful accountable care organization, particularly those created by academic medical centers, according to a study published in Academic Medicine.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine analyzed the first 235 Medicare ACOs established in the U.S., 20 percent of which were created at academic medical centers.

In addition to robust health IT and analytics systems, the authors identified reliable coordination of care across all types of teams and strong leadership as particularly important for academic medical centers to address when launching new ACOs.

"It's important [for academic institutions] to quickly identify areas where changes are needed," wrote Scott Berkowitz, study co-author and medical director for accountable care for Johns Hopkins Medicine, and co-author Jennifer Pahira. "There has to be an electronic [health] record system robust enough to analyze and assess quality and safety issues."

Berkowitz and Pahira say leadership needs to involve both primary care and specialty providers in planning and operations. “It’s important for academic medical centers to use their resources wisely when making the transition,” Berkowitz says. “Effective ACOs use strategies that align quality and costs from the start.”

While the first generation of ACOs are generating data that has yet to be fully processed, the authors also noted that "further study of results from Medicare-related ACO programs and commercial ACOs will help define best practices."