business
UnitedHealthcare to boost pay for ACOs
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 22, 2013
UnitedHealthcare said in July that it will broaden its accountable care organization contracts across its employer-sponsored Medicare and Medicaid businesses in the next five years.
The insurance company pays $20 billion to hospitals, physicians and ancillary care providers through ACO contracts that account for quality and cost efficiency measures. It expects to increase such pay to $50 billion by 2017.
UnitedHealthcare has ACO arrangements with more than 575 hospitals, 1,100 medical groups and 75,000 physicians.
“We are improving health outcomes for patients at lower costs by moving even more broadly to value-based payment models and integrating those with our care provider network, product and clinical strategies,” said Austin Pittman, president of UnitedHealthcare Networks, in a statement.
