Accountable care organizations will have a positive influence on the quality of pain care across the country, according to a News-Medical report covering the American Pain Society's annual conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Daniel Carr, MD, of Tufts University in Boston, discussed the impact of ACOs in his keynote conference address.
According to Dr. Carr, the ACO model rewards prevention, early detection team-based management in low-cost settings like primary care practices. "Although this model is perceived as threatening, it is the very same public health approach that leaders in the pain community have long advocated," said Dr. Carr. "When working properly, ACOs untether fees from services, encourage time to be allocated for complex patients, and support use of less invasive and behavioral therapies."
In the future, he said, pain management specialists will find it advantageous to be aligned with the priorities of ACOs, including avoiding hospitalizations and other measures of quality and cost-effectiveness.
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According to Dr. Carr, the ACO model rewards prevention, early detection team-based management in low-cost settings like primary care practices. "Although this model is perceived as threatening, it is the very same public health approach that leaders in the pain community have long advocated," said Dr. Carr. "When working properly, ACOs untether fees from services, encourage time to be allocated for complex patients, and support use of less invasive and behavioral therapies."
In the future, he said, pain management specialists will find it advantageous to be aligned with the priorities of ACOs, including avoiding hospitalizations and other measures of quality and cost-effectiveness.
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