Start Date
10-12-2017 12:00 AM
Description
The U.S. healthcare system is characterized by a fragmented healthcare model with misaligned financial incentives resulting in excess expenditures, low patient satisfaction, and inefficient care delivery. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) were established under the Medicare Shared Savings Program to address these issues. We propose an evaluation framework to measure ACO efficiency, based on their ability to use health care resources to maximize health outcomes. We address two research questions: (a) what is the impact of ACO size on performance, and (b) does health IT moderate the impact of ACO size on performance? We test our models using a three-yea, nationwide sample of ACO data, using a two-stage DEA and regression approach. We find that larger ACOs are likely to exhibit lower efficiency relative to smaller ACOs. We also find that usage of electronic health records mitigates the negative impact of ACO size on performance, and improves ACO efficiency.
Recommended Citation
Bao, Chenzhang and Bardhan, Indranil, "Measuring Relative Performance of Accountable Care Organizations: the role of health information technology" (2017). ICIS 2017 Proceedings. 16.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2017/IT-and-Healthcare/Presentations/16
Measuring Relative Performance of Accountable Care Organizations: the role of health information technology
The U.S. healthcare system is characterized by a fragmented healthcare model with misaligned financial incentives resulting in excess expenditures, low patient satisfaction, and inefficient care delivery. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) were established under the Medicare Shared Savings Program to address these issues. We propose an evaluation framework to measure ACO efficiency, based on their ability to use health care resources to maximize health outcomes. We address two research questions: (a) what is the impact of ACO size on performance, and (b) does health IT moderate the impact of ACO size on performance? We test our models using a three-yea, nationwide sample of ACO data, using a two-stage DEA and regression approach. We find that larger ACOs are likely to exhibit lower efficiency relative to smaller ACOs. We also find that usage of electronic health records mitigates the negative impact of ACO size on performance, and improves ACO efficiency.