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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Accountable Care Organizations

Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Frontier Health System
Discusses the challenges of providing care in frontier communities and offers solutions for improving access to and delivery of care. Proposes the creation of a frontier-specific accountable care organization (ACO), the Frontier Health System (FHS), that provides traditional ACO services along with transportation, swing beds, home-based care, expanded visiting nurse services, and more.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Evaluation of the Minnesota Accountable Health Model
Describes the final results of Minnesota's State Innovation Model (SIM) initiative evaluation sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). Includes information on SIM investments in rural counties, considerations to strengthen and support infrastructure to advance integrated health partnerships in rural areas, and engagement strategies to include rural clinics and providers in Health Care Homes care coordination cost study.
Author(s): Donna Spencer, Christina Worrall, Emily Zylla, et al.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: State Health Access Data Assistance Center
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Promoting Colorectal Cancer Screening Through a New Model of Delivering Rural Primary Care in the USA: A Qualitative Study
Results of a study conducted in Nebraska, to explore ways in which colorectal cancer screening can be promoted by rural primary care clinics participating in an Accountable Care Organization. Features statistics including participants' gender, job, and breakdowns by three levels of rurality.
Author(s): Jungyoon Kim, Lufei Young, Sarbinaz Bekmuratova, et al.
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 17(1), 4187
Date: 03/2017
Type: Document
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Making the Most of Evolving Payment Policies to Enhance Hospital-based Care in Rural Communities
Presentation slides from the 2017 Rural Health Care Leadership Conference that discuss the transition from volume to value for rural hospital payment and how to make the most of resources available to facilities. Includes examples of services and documents for reference as well as data and statistics surrounding Medicare Advantage and Accountable Care Organizations in rural communities.
Author(s): Keith J. Mueller
Date: 02/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Accountable Care Organization Implementation Experiences and Rural Participation: Considerations for Nurses
Examines implications of Accountable Care Organization (ACO) development for advanced practice nurses and other primary care clinicians employed by rural practices such as Rural Health Clinics that may be considering ACO participation.
Author(s): Matt Thomas Bagwell, Angeline Bushy, Judith Ortiz
Citation: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 47(1), 30-34
Date: 01/2017
Type: Document
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Critical Access Hospital Financial Model
Excel-based modeling tool designed to help Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) anticipate and analyze the financial impacts of joining a Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Accountable Care Organization (ACO).
Date: 2017
Type: Tool
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Value
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Spread of Accountable Care Organizations in Rural America
Uses data through December 2015 to reveal trends in rural Medicare Accountable Care Organization (ACO) activity, and discusses motivations behind the recent increase in rural ACO participation. Includes maps of ACO presence by county, illustrating changes that occurred between 2013 and 2015.
Author(s): Keith Mueller, Fred Ullrich
Date: 10/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Medicare Accountable Care Organizations: Quality Performance by Geographic Categories
Using CMS 2014 and 2015 Medicare Accountable Care Organization (ACO) data, this brief examines the differences in ACO performance on 4 domains of quality measures: Patient/Caregiver Experience (PCE), Care Coordination/Patient Safety (CCP), Preventive Health (PH), and At-Risk Population (AtR) in rural and urban areas, and discusses the overall quality score of Medicare Shared Savings ACOs by geographic category.
Author(s): Xi Zhu, Keith Mueller, Thomas Vaughn, Fred Ullrich, A. Clinton MacKinney
Date: 09/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Costs of Accountable Care Organization Participation for Primary Care Providers: Early Stage Results
Analyzes data from 2012 and 2013 Medicare cost reports to determine whether joining an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is associated with an increase in a Rural Health Clinic's (RHC) per visit cost, particularly during the first two years of participation.
Author(s): Richard A. Hofler, Judith Ortiz
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 16(315)
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
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2016 Financial Leadership Summit Report: Strategies for Rural Hospitals Transitioning to Value-based Purchasing and Population Health
Provides rural hospital administrators strategies for meeting the challenges of a changing healthcare environment. Includes discussion on alternative payment models, the impact of market forces, successful examples. and lessons learned. Offers information for developing tools to support hospitals and networks as they transition to value-based purchasing and population health.
Additional links: Webinar Playback: Rural Strategies for Transitioning to Value-based Purchasing and Population Health, Webinar Slides: Rural Strategies for Transitioning to Value-based Purchasing and Population Health
Author(s): Mark Chustz
Date: 07/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Resource Center
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