Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Can ACOs reinvent the American health care system?

George Lundberg, MD
Policy
May 26, 2011
70 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

The cost curve of American medicine continues to bend up. That is unsustainable. It must begin to bend downward.

Two recent headlines focus the problem:

New York Times, May 14, 2011: Health Insurers Making Record Profits as Many Postpone Care

And, CNN Money, May 11, 2011 reports “Your family’s healthcare costs $19,393.” That is for a family of four, which has a median income of $75,700  — before taxes.

Opportunity knocks, loudly. We can change our medical world now.

American medicine has been very successful. American medicine has been a dismal failure. Both statements are correct, depending on how one looks at it.

It is now our opportunity, indeed I say our professional responsibility, to preserve the best, and to scuttle the worst.

We can build a new medical world based less upon process, quantity, volume, and lucre, and more on quality, safety, speed, outcomes, and patient-centered efficiency.

In this new era of accountable care organizations (ACOs), keep your eyes on the prize.

And the prize is positive outcomes for the health of the mind, body, and spirit of the patient.

Keep healthy people healthy, vigorous, and confident; recognize and treat acute illness quickly and effectively; manage chronic illness efficiently; do not promote disease mongering, cyberchrondriasis, medical bankruptcy, or, what Nortin Hadler and Clifton Meador call “the worried well.”

Accountable Care Organizations may take many forms. I believe that physician leadership will be the key.

The three goals of an ACO are to:

  1. Increase perceived value of care
  2. Improve actual clinical outcomes
  3. Lower healthcare costs

If it saves money, the ACO gets to keep some of the savings. This truly is an exciting opportunity to do well by doing good.

With ACOs, the American healthcare non-system actually can and should be reinvented.

Now.

I recommend engaging and empowering communities to work with the healthcare sector in building ACOs for their common good.

The credo of The Lundberg Institute is: one patient; one physician; one moment; one decision; let it be a shared decision, informed by the best evidence, and considering cost.

Might ACOs make health community informed shared decision-making of the same sort possible, facilitated by participatory technologies and social media as recently suggested by Springgate and Brook in JAMA?

Exciting time. Be creative. Seize the moment. Save American pluralistic healthcare. It may be our last best chance.

George Lundberg is a MedPage Today Editor-at-Large and former editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Originally published in MedPage Today. Visit MedPageToday.com for more health policy news.

Prev

Meaningful offline dialogue creates online inspiration

May 26, 2011 Kevin 2
…
Next

Poor health literacy linked with unnecessary health complications

May 26, 2011 Kevin 15
…

Tagged as: Primary Care, Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Meaningful offline dialogue creates online inspiration
Next Post >
Poor health literacy linked with unnecessary health complications

More by George Lundberg, MD

  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Pathologists face a stark career choice

    George Lundberg, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    A culture of cover-up has slowed the patient safety movement

    George Lundberg, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Do drugs aid and abet genius or does genius lead to drugs?

    George Lundberg, MD

More in Policy

  • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

    Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN
  • Deaths of despair: an urgent call for a collective response to the crisis in U.S. life expectancy

    Mohammed Umer Waris, MD
  • Breaking down the barriers to effective bar-code medication administration

    Amy Dang Craft
  • The locums industry has a beef problem

    Aaron Morgenstein, MD
  • Canada’s health workers are sounding the alarm. We must act, now.

    Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD
  • Race categorizations are worsening health inequities for the South West Asian North African (SWANA) communities

    Guleer Shahab, MPH
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy
    • From physician to patient: one doctor’s journey to finding purpose after a devastating injury

      Stephanie Pearson, MD | Physician
    • Lifestyle change: the forgotten solution in health care

      Tyler Petersen | Conditions
    • An unspoken truth about non-compete clauses in medicine

      Harry Severance, MD | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Why are doctors sued and politicians aren’t?

      Kellie Lease Stecher, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The rise of generative AI in health care: Here’s what you need to know

      Anil Saldanha | Tech
    • Finding peace through surrender: a personal exploration

      Dympna Weil, MD | Physician
    • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Physician
    • Unlocking the secret to successful weight loss: Curiosity is the key

      Franchell Hamilton, MD | Conditions
    • The teacher who changed my life through reading

      Raymond Abbott | Conditions
    • Revaluating mental health assessments: It’s not just the patient you should consider

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 8 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • 4F-PCC No Help in Trauma Patients at Risk of Massive Transfusion
  • Hospital's Board Meetings Still Barraged With COVID Accusations
  • The No Surprises Act: Debunking the Myths
  • Supporting the Mental Wellness of Physicians
  • Can Mothers Pass Obesity on to Daughters?

Meeting Coverage

  • Trial of Novel TYK2 Inhibitor Hits Its Endpoint in Plaque Psoriasis
  • Durable Vitiligo Responses With Topical Ruxolitinib
  • High Rates of Psoriasis Clearance With Investigational TYK2 Inhibitor
  • Rapid Improvement in Atopic Dermatitis With Topical PDE4 Inhibitor
  • New Approaches in the Bladder-Sparing Paradigm
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy
    • From physician to patient: one doctor’s journey to finding purpose after a devastating injury

      Stephanie Pearson, MD | Physician
    • Lifestyle change: the forgotten solution in health care

      Tyler Petersen | Conditions
    • An unspoken truth about non-compete clauses in medicine

      Harry Severance, MD | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Why are doctors sued and politicians aren’t?

      Kellie Lease Stecher, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The rise of generative AI in health care: Here’s what you need to know

      Anil Saldanha | Tech
    • Finding peace through surrender: a personal exploration

      Dympna Weil, MD | Physician
    • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Physician
    • Unlocking the secret to successful weight loss: Curiosity is the key

      Franchell Hamilton, MD | Conditions
    • The teacher who changed my life through reading

      Raymond Abbott | Conditions
    • Revaluating mental health assessments: It’s not just the patient you should consider

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today iMedicalApps
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Can ACOs reinvent the American health care system?
8 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...