David Blumenthal: Accountable care organisations in the US

In this video, Dr David Blumenthal, Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Care Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System and Harvard Medical School, talks to Nuffield Trust Director Dr Jennifer Dixon about one aspect of health care reform in the United States – the development of accountable care organisations (ACOs).

Dr Blumenthal provides an overview of this core part of the US health reform legislation which will see ACOs – networks of providers – assume responsibility for the quality and cost of care for their patients. He explains how financial incentives and accountability mechanisms will be introduced to help increase the efficiency of care and improve quality, and outlines the measures being taken to ensure that the amount of risk ACOs take on will be calculated appropriately.

Dr Blumenthal presented at the Commonwealth Fund and Nuffield Trust 12th international meeting on the quality of health care in July 2011.