NJ plans for new ACO
A new accountable care organization (ACO) is slated to go live on Sept. 1 in New Jersey.
The state's largest hospital healthcare delivery system—eight-hospital Barnabas Health—and the state's largest health insurer—Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield—have partnered to launch the new care delivery model.
Under this ACO agreement, officials say Horizon BCBSNJ will extend care coordination payments to the ACO, taking on accountability for improving the health, patient experience and controlling the cost of care for its Horizon BCBSNJ Medicare Advantage patients. The ACO and its affiliated practices have an opportunity to share in the resulting savings, provided the ACO meets certain health improvement, patient satisfaction and cost goals.
This collaboration with Barnabas Health, through its affiliated accountable care organizations, Barnabas Health ACO-North and Central Jersey ACO, marks the health insurer's fifth ACO or population health initiative to launch within the past year. More than 320,000 members and 1,400 doctors are participating in Horizon BCBSNJ’s patient-centered programs.
"Collectively, these accountable care innovations inject a new level of collaboration and quality standards into our health delivery system and help remove wasteful, unnecessary costs," said Jim Albano, vice president of network and Horizon Healthcare Innovations, Horizon BCBSNY, in a release.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.