Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie has been selected as one of 123 new Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in Medicare, providing approximately 1.5 million more Medicare beneficiaries with access to quality coordinated care across the United States.
Doctors, hospitals and health-care providers establish ACOs in order to work together to provide higher-quality coordinated care to their patients, while helping to slow health care-cost growth.
Saint Vincent is the only health-care organization in western Pennsylvania to be designated as an ACO.
The Saint Vincent ACO, known as Saint Vincent Healthcare Partners, will cover 8,000 Medicare patients in the tri-state area.ACOs must meet quality standards to ensure that savings are achieved through improving care coordination and providing care that is appropriate, safe and timely. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) evaluates ACO quality performance using 33 quality measures on patient and caregiver experience of care, care coordination and patient safety, appropriate use of preventive health services, and improved care for at-risk populations.
For more information, visit www.saintvincenthealth.com.
