Accountable care organizations (ACOs): How these healthcare partnerships intend to benefit the community

A provision of the hotly debated Affordable Care Act (a.k.a Obamacare) - the accountable care organizations (ACOs) model encourages doctors and hospitals to partner up and provide care to their patients through a healthcare network. In this partnership, all parties are responsible for making sure that patients in their network receive quality care and keep costs down. Physicians and hospitals that accomplish those two goals, receive financial incentives. One key consideration for an ACO is that for at least three years they manage all of the health care needs of a minimum of 5,000 Medicare beneficiaries.

So how does this partnership benefit everyday people? The hope is that through this partnership, medicare spending would be reduced. How? Well currently it is believed that one of the ways medicare funds are wasted is by providing patients with unnecessary tests and procedures. This unnecessary testing is one of the things this provision hopes to reduce. It is also the hope that these ACOs focus on prevention. By carefully and effectively managing patients, especially those with chronic diseases, these networks hope to keep their patients healthy and out of the hospital, further keeping costs down.

Will it really benefit us? Well, the government begins receiving applications for this program January 2012. After that, I assume these networks will need time to test out the program and make adjustments. Realistically, it could be many years before we know the true effect of the ACOs.

You can read more on this topic from Kaiser Health News. Click here to see the full story.

Dannon and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. have teamed up to support women in communities

Up until December 31, 2011, people can take part in funding early cancer detection and post-diagnosis support efforts through a partnership between Dannon® and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. (NBCF). Anyone may participate by purchasing a qualifying Dannon® or Stonyfield Activia product and entering the code (found under the lid) at cupsofhope.com.

This collaboration is for a great cause and can potentially benefit the lives of many women living in our communities.

Molina Foundation partners with literacy programs and 501(c)3 organizations to promote literacy

The Molina Foundation was established in 2004 to reduce disparities in healthcare and education. If the name sounds familiar, that’s because it was started by Dr. Martha Bernadett, daughter of Molina Healthcare, Inc. founder, Dr. C. David Molina. Since 2003, the Book Buddies™program has been working to increase literacy in children and adults by partnering with other organizations and literacy programs nationally. Through the Book Buddies™ program, the foundation has distributed hundreds of thousands of books and started book clubs at elementary schools.

Molina Foundation’s work through the Book Buddies™ program is a great example of how the health and education sectors can collaborate. What this means for a community and for a healthcare organization is not only less illiterate residents but a decrease in poverty. Literacy status effects a persons life much like the domino effect. Literacy determines our ability to move through the education system and hence our educational attainment (e.g. high school, college degree, graduate degree), what jobs we can get (high or low paying), and ultimately the quality of life we have.