Health Care Organizations and Integrated Delivery Networks - Essay Example

The author goes ahead to describe the requirements that health care organizations need to be successful in improving quality and reducing Medicare costs.

There is a new approach to improving the healthcare system that has similar characteristics as the previous failed project. Accountable care organizations have a structure with a similar focus just like the integrated delivery networks. They emphasize care coordination, develop a continuum of care, focus on disease management, and require start-up firms with new organizational structures, among other similarities, just like the failed integrated delivery network. They have some features that integrated delivery networks did not have, such as quality management and measurement, patient engagement, chronic care management, clinical decision-making support, data and health information sharing, data and information technology analytics, accountability and value, and several other features. These differences, however, do not make the new system’s components effective in accomplishing the purposes for which it was developed. The article has developed its argument by explaining what is needed for the organizations to be successful. An analysis of the features of the ‘accountable care organizations’ shows that they do not have the necessary components to ensure the reduced rate of Medicare’s spending growth, and improved quality through better care coordination.

This means that the implementation of ‘accountable care organizations may be successful, but its effects as expected will not be achieved.

The strengths of the ‘accountable care organizations are the new features such as information technology, care management tools and practices, the regulation and oversight system, and payment system that are different from the integrated delivery network. The weakness of the project is its similarity to the failed integrated delivery network.

If I were a CEO or health care manager, I would agree with the author of the article. Based on the similarities produced between the two projects, it would be advisable to find out the reasons for the first project’s failure. These should inform the implementation and management of the second project. I also agree with the author of the article because of the outlined components required for success. Accountable care organizations do not have concrete assets. These are required for electronic health record systems and health information technology, delivery expansion system, clinical decision-making support, and health information sharing. Without these resources, it is not easy to make such organizations effective. Effectiveness is a key role in ensuring quality and low costs. This is just one example of a resource needed to ensure success, yet there are cultural changes, new organizational processes, and managerial and financial systems still lacking.