How Virtual-First Care Can Help ACOs Take on Risk and Capture Savings

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are the joining together of physician organizations, hospitals, and other care delivery groups to share risk, reduce cost, and deliver better holistic care to their patients. ACO’s have been looking for ways to establish a consistent structure over the last several years to prove their value within the healthcare world.

ACOs exist to improve patient outcomes, enhance the patient and clinician experience, and reduce overall cost of care. When they make advancements in the right digital technologies that align with their strategies, they can put themselves in a better position to meet their goals and better serve their patients.

ACOs Will Continue to Be a Prominent Form of Healthcare

ACOs exist to give patients a higher quality of care, often to Medicare patients. As this base grows, they need to continue to find ways to drive better outcomes and lower costs for their constituency. As of the beginning of 2022, there were 483 Medicare ACOs serving 11 million beneficiaries. Some are hospital-based, and some are independent care providers looking to enhance their level of care.

ACOs are expected to remain a viable source of medical care in the future. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation plans to try to get a majority of Medicaid recipients into an ACO within the next 10 years. As they focus on this strategic growth initiative, a virtual-first care plan can allow them to meet and exceed their economic goals.

ACOs are being incentivized to provide service to underserved communities and a virtual-first model could help cut down on the need to commute long distances. The adherence to virtual or web-based appointments has been stronger than initially anticipated and can help patients more easily stay on top of their health. The ability to communicate via text and email has also made it easier for patients. It’s easy to see how virtual-first care will become a growing part of medical plans when it comes to patients receiving care through an ACO model.

Virtual-First Care Can Help ACOs Meet Their Goals

When ACOs and medical providers focus on providing care through digital interactions where possible, it centers care around the patient, rather than provider or practice. Through doing this, it can also save the provider time and resources otherwise invested in in-person care for the long-term.

Virtual-first care allows ACOs to expand their reach and increase the availability of digital health technologies to patients. The patient care quality and satisfaction can be improved through the convenience of attending their appointments via the use of computers, tablets, or other connected devices.

Virtual-First Care Can Help You Take on Risk

ACOs and their members can help manage the risk they take on through the strategic use of virtual-first care platforms and technologies. It’s possible to save significant amounts of money while improving the quality of patient care through digital technologies that better facilitate:

• Patient/clinician communication

• A more complete and comprehensive approach to health that includes consultations with specialists

• Medical or therapeutic prescriptions

• The self-reporting of symptoms

• Caregiver support

• Mail-in lab testing

• Remote monitoring

• Sensor technologies that can give basic vital levels or track exercise

• Educational content for both patients and providers

• Technical support for digital literacy

With companies such as HBox ready to provide the solutions, platforms, and devices necessary to create a virtual-first care practice, it’s easier to take on risk within the ACO and within your practice and capture savings that make it a critical tool for the future of patient care.

Virtual-First Care and Clinical Optimization

Virtual-first care platforms can help with EHRs and various clerical tasks as well. With the opportunity to improve care coordination, clinical documentation, flow optimization, and billing, you have the opportunity to save money and avert risk at the same time.

When records are stored collectively and remove artificial data silos, you can normalize risk by providing a more complete view of the patient population as a whole. More patient care solutions can effectively be administered at scale for better care management at this point with a more accurate view of the appropriate data.

HBox Can Help Your ACO Generate the Necessary Value

ACOs need to meet their goals and better serve their patients to remain a viable form of care into the future. As healthcare shifts toward an emphasis on digital technologies to provide a virtual-first care system, ACOs have an opportunity to create real value. Hbox can help you with the solutions, platforms, and devices that you need to set up an effective virtual-first care platform that can help you prioritize patient care while taking on risk and capturing savings. If you have any questions or would like to find out more about how we can help with your specific situation, contact us today!