Jim Molpus, for HealthLeaders Media, August 8, 2011
“In its most simplified form, the idea behind accountable care organizations was to get the healthcare providers and payers in a community to work together to improve care while also reducing its cost. Much of that purity has been lost in the noise of the ACO movement, but in Louisville, KY, Norton Healthcare and Humana are continuing the journey.
Norton, with five hospitals and more than 2,000 physicians, and health plan Humana, headquartered in Louisville but with 10 million members nationwide, began discussions of forming an ACO in 2009, “when we had no idea what an ACO really was,” says Steven Hester, MD, Norton’s chief medical officer.”