Mining for Gold In a Barren Land: Pioneer Accountable Care Organization Potential to Redesign the Healthcare Business Model in a Post-Acute Setting

According to the Harvard Business Review, medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, and account for billions of wasted dollars every year. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a complex, multi-faceted law and charged the new CMS Innovation Center with the design and oversight of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Challenges for the Pioneer ACOs include navigating a regulatory web of federal and state rules and legislation, multiple payment and quality structures, and collaboratively designing a new set of rules that will make an ACO viable. This review sought to reveal the gold which lies within the Pioneer ACO program, demonstrating how providers, particularly inpatient rehabilitation facility post-acute providers, can mine the new legislation to meet the goals lowering costs and improving the quality of care.