First few Article Sentences
As we near the end of the first quarter of 2016 and plan for the anticipated changes on the horizon, take a moment to consider where the health care industry stood a mere five years ago. In 2011, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) was new as was the concept of the accountable care organization (ACO). Under the ACA, ACOs were to focus on managing a discrete Medicare population. However in 2011, the ACO was becoming a metaphor for population health management and expansion of care by providing new models of care, including shared risks and rewards based on patient outcomes. This is new territory for providers, payers as well as patients.