What is an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and its primary goal?

• A. An Accountable Care Organization is a network of providers who coordinate care for a defined population and share savings with Medicare/other payers if quality metrics are met; focus on care coordination and reducing costs.
• B. An ACO is a single hospital entity that controls all patient admissions.
• C. An ACO is a patient advocacy group that negotiates prices for services.
• D. An ACO is a private insurer network with no quality metrics.

Answer: (A)

An ACO is a network of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers who agree to take shared responsibility for the care of a defined patient population. The aim is to coordinate care across settings—primary care, specialty care, hospital stays, and post-acute services—so patients receive appropriate, timely, and higher-quality care while avoiding unnecessary tests and hospitalizations. The primary goal is to improve quality and patient outcomes while reducing overall costs. If the group meets specific quality and spending targets, they share in the savings they’ve produced for payers such as Medicare; if they don’t meet the targets, there may be no savings (and some models include risk for higher costs). This structure emphasizes value over volume and collaborative care across the continuum, rather than a single hospital controlling admissions, a patient advocacy group negotiating prices, or a private insurer network without quality benchmarks.