Taconic Health Information Network and Community convenes "ACO Insights: A Trajectory for Improved Health Care Delivery"

FISHKILL, N.Y., April 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Weighing in at almost 70 pounds, the much-anticipated proposed rules for accountable care organizations recently released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are engaging the best minds in health care to determine how these organizations might be developed to transform care delivery. On June 22, Taconic Health Information Network and Community (THINC) will host a day-long conference to explore this new model of care delivery and reimbursement through presentations by nationally recognized speakers and a New York state-focused panel. The ACO Insights conference provides an interactive setting for physicians and other health care leaders to frankly discuss the opportunities and challenges related to accountable care.

ACO Insights: A Trajectory for Improved Health Care Delivery is part of THINC's effort to provide training and technical assistance to physician practices, health plans, hospitals and other health facilities in the Hudson Valley. ACO Insights, supported by a grant from the New York State Health Foundation, also includes a series of webinars on relevant ACO topics based on a framework of ACO model components: financial and legal, leadership and operations, quality measures and improvement, and engagement.

"THINC is a community convener of health care organizations and interests, and this conference is an opportunity for providers of all types and sizes to gain information from a trusted, neutral source," said Susan Stuard, THINC's executive director. "Providers have many questions about ACOs. At this meeting, they will hear from organizations that have already taken steps toward becoming ACOs, and from subject matter experts on legal issues and the New York environment in particular. It is a chance for participants to develop their own assessments and ask questions."

As part of the meeting, legal counsel will present results of the THINC Contracting Workgroup. A work group led by Susan Stuard and Doug Hastings of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., and involving provider and commercial payer representatives, assessed issues that would be key to contracting for an ACO with a commercial payer.  Among the items being addressed by the work group are ACO size and savings threshold, quality measurement, risk, provider network and patient attribution.  

The June 22 meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Mount Kisco, NY, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Other speakers and topics include:

• Edward Murphy, MD, president and CEO, Carilion Clinic, presenting "Building an ACO Framework: Opportunities and Challenges for Providers and Hospitals"
• Chet Speed, vice president for public policy, American Medical Group Association, presenting "ACO Regulations: The Provider Role in ACO Structure, Governance and Operations"
• A panel entitled "New York Provider and Payer Insights on Engagement, Quality and Leadership." The panel will include Hal Teitelbaum, MD, MBA, managing partner and CEO, Crystal Run Healthcare; David Sandman, PhD, senior vice president, New York State Health Foundation and Allen Hinkle, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer, MVP Healthcare.

There is a $45 fee to attend the meeting. For more information about ACO Insights and to register for the conference, click here.  

THINC and the Hudson Valley have been on the forefront of innovation in health care delivery, with the highest concentration of top-level medical home recognition in the nation and some 340 active providers connected through electronic health information exchange.

About the Taconic Health Information Network and Community (THINC)

THINC is dedicated to improving the quality, safety and efficiency of health care for the benefit of the people of the Hudson Valley region of New York. The primary purpose of THINC is to advance the use of health IT through the sponsorship of a secure health information exchange network, the adoption and use of interoperable EHRs and the implementation of population health improvement activities. These activities include public health surveillance and reporting, pay for performance, patient centered medical home practice transformation, care coordination activities, public reporting, and other quality improvement initiatives. For more information, go to www.THINC.org. THINC is part of the Hudson Valley Initiative, an effort to revolutionize health care delivery through a shared vision to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health care in the community. To learn more, go to http://www.hudsonvalleyinitiative.com.

SOURCE THINC