AMGA, Press Ganey launch ACO tool

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) and Press Ganey Associates have  launched of a new survey tool designed to help accountable care organizations (ACOs) improve efficiency, quality and the patient's experience.  

The tool, called the AMGA-Press Ganey Coordinated Care Solution, assesses a patient’s entire episode of care and enables better management of population health to create positive patient outcomes and maximize shared savings.

 [See also: ACOs digging in to stay, experts say.]

The Coordinated Care Solution was built to fill critical information gaps identified by members of the AMGA ACO Collaborative and provides in-depth analysis unmatched by event-based surveys, according to AMGA officials. Those concepts not captured by event-based surveying include effective use of care team members, provider engagement, and the patient’s assessment of their own level of engagement, loyalty, and compliance.

“AMGA members are on the vanguard of delivering high-quality and high-value care," said Donald W. Fisher, president and chief executive officer of AMGA. "So we wanted to be at the forefront of developing an innovative survey to capture the critical component of patient engagement which is essential to successfully operate in an accountable care environment, especially under the various Medicare ACO programs.

 “With more than five million lives now covered by ACOs, the success of these organizations and other integrated delivery models is vital to fulfilling the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s ‘triple aim’ and transitioning from a volume-based system to one that is value-based,” said Patrick T. Ryan, CEO of Press Ganey. “A key component of that success is having the right tools to help providers strive for seamless coordination of care by understanding the viewpoint and behaviors of the patient who is interacting with different providers."

One of the participants in the Coordinated Care Solution pilot is Geisinger Health System, an organization known for its advanced patient-centered medical home called ProvenHealth Navigator, a collaborative effort between Geisinger Clinic and Geisinger Health Plan (GHP), the not-for-profit health insurance component of the health system.

Tom Graf, MD, Geisinger’s associate chief medical officer said, taking a holistic approach to care meant changing the relationship with patients. "As a pioneer in coordinated care, we recognized the need for a more comprehensive tool to support this new relationship by collecting important information that was previously unavailable information on what our patients thought we were doing right and what we could improve as they moved from one type of provider to another during their treatment,” he said.