Ore. Accountable Care Organizations Continue to Boost Quality

Oregon’s network of sixteen coordinated care organizations (CCOs), similar to accountable care organizations springing up across the nation, are continuing their steady march towards improved quality and cost savings, the Oregon Health Authority’s latest measurement report reveals. 

Thirteen out of the sixteen participating organizations earned back all of their available quality-based financial bonuses in 2014, the report states, while the remaining three CCOs made measurable progress on at least some of the required clinical quality measures.

Oregon launched its version of accountable care organizations in 2012, and the program has seen significant success each year since its inception.  “Overall, and for the second straight calendar year, the coordinated care model continues to show improvements in a number of areas of care, even with the inclusion of the more than 434,000 additional Oregonians who have enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan since January 1, 2014,” the report says. Approximately 1.1 million patients are currently enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program.

Despite the influx of patients, the CCOs have demonstrated resilience and progress.  The program withholds three percent of reimbursement for expenditures and places the funds into a communal “quality pool,” explained Lori Coyner, Director of Health Analytics at the Oregon Health Authority, to HealthITAnalytics.com earlier in 2015.  “Each of the CCOs are paid out of that pool based on their performance on 17 incentive measures,” she said.