N.Y. ACO reports success

WESTMED Medical Group, a 260-physician group practice, launched an accountable care organization (ACO) with Unitedhealth and its Optum medical services platform, and more than 13,000 individuals in March 2012. Since then, the physician-led ACO has earned nearly $1 million in performance bonuses and plans to expand its program in 2014, according to Healthcare Finance News.

The Purchase, N.Y.-based ACO performs above the 90th percentile of the National Committee for Quality Assurance Quality Compass for providing the highest level of coordinated care for breast and cervical cancer screenings, WESTMED officials said. The organization also met its goals for reducing practice variation, decreasing duplications in care, and promoting the proper setting for care. Individual physicians who met both quality and cost metrics are eligible for bonus money. WESTMED plans to expand the ACO program in 2014 to measure a greater number of metrics, and increase the number of participants in this program, officials said.

Source: Healthcare Finance News