Analysis Of The Triple Aim In Healthcare

The Triple Aim

With healthcare costs soaring in the United States, there is a continuous movement by hospitals and health systems towards reaching a number of patient and system oriented goals related to higher levels of quality, safety, and cost effectiveness. The Triple Aim captures the essential challenges and opportunities of this time within the U.S. Healthcare system. Formally introduce by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in October 2007, the Triple Aim is theoretical model for optimizing health system performance. The initiative has three components: improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction), improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita costs of health care (Berwick,

The majority of a patient’s care remains within the system, enabling maximum efficiency and coordination. Furthermore, research has shown that ACOS help reduce medical errors, eliminate duplicate services and facilities as well as provide financial incentives to demonstrate high-quality, patient centered care (Richman, Schulman, 2011). Several ACOs across the country are showing an increase in care coordination leads to a reduction in no-shows, improved medication adherence and enhances preventative and chronic care. For example, in a care coordination pilot performed by Trinity Clinic, which is part of an ACO, care coordinators boosted quality and revenue by reducing their no show rate form 4.5% to 2.8% primarily due to a previsit phone call set up by the coordinators (Mullins, Mooney, & Fowler, 2013). ACOS are not the entire solution, but these organizations are certainly a step in the right direction, putting patient satisfaction and quality as part of their fundamental

For patients, when ACOs are fully functional they represent an increase in patient experience in several ways. First ACOs allow open communication between physicians from different specialties coordinating together to determine solutions. Second, ACOs also establish a single point of contact for all questions concerning care. Finally, these organizations represent a centralized network of physicians for the patient, creating a team to deliver comprehensive care. In fact, there is mounting evidence that suggests the potential benefits of care coordination in ACOs for both patient experience and quality, including reduced hospital admissions, improved quality of chronic disease management, improved patient satisfaction, and better access to specialty care (Stille, 2005). For providers, ACOs provide an opportunity for better collaboration on the various modalities they use on their patients, as well as improved workflow and communication. There are several stakeholders in which the large scale implementation of ACOs would affect. Federal and state government health insurance programs like Medicaid and Medicare, one type of stakeholders. With the implementation of ACOs and the shared savings model, Medicaid and Medicare now have a financial incentive to partner with healthcare organizations to deliver better outcomes at lower costs. If done correctly, Medicaid and Medicare stand to save large