Discover the AAFP's Newly Posted FAQ on ACOs

In an effort to equip Academy members with more information about accountable care organizations, or ACOs, the AAFP has created a document that answers some of family physicians' most frequently asked questions, or FAQs.

The online resource, "Everything you need to know about Accountable Care Organizations (in plain English)," begins with a definition of the ACO model -- a model that has ignited a firestorm of interest across the country ever since it was included in the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act legislation. CMS currently is working on revising regulations for the final model.

According to the AAFP document, "An ACO is a group of health care providers who agree to take on a shared responsibility for the care of a defined population of patients while assuring active management of both the quality and cost of that care."

The FAQ document also provides more than two dozen answers to questions such as:

The answer to the final question addresses where family physicians can get additional help and provides direct links to information from the Academy and TransforMED, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the AAFP.

Bruce Bagley, M.D., the AAFP's medical director of quality improvement, was the primary author of the FAQ document. "We created the FAQ because there is a tremendous amount of confusion, fear and misunderstanding about ACOs," said Bagley. "The idea was to create simple answers to everyday questions."

According to Bagley, the answers in the FAQ are not in-depth, "but they should go a long way toward helping physicians understand the basic issues surrounding ACOs."

In other ACO news, the Academy has posted an archived version of an ACO webinar it held on June 22.

The "Accountable Care Organizations and You: How ACOs Affect Your Practice" webinar was moderated by Bagley and Terry McGeeney, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of TransforMED.

AAFP members have free access to all of the Academy's ACO resources.