OIG: Medicare ACOs Lag in Interoperable Health IT Infrastructure Use

Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) have not fully realized the potential of interoperable health IT infrastructure and tools, a recent study by the HHS OIG concluded. HHS OIG evaluated six ACOs on how they used health IT infrastructure and tools to cooperate in caring for their patients, based on on-site interviews with administrative staff and providers. Four of the ACOs were Next Generation ACOs, and two participated in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. In conducting the evaluation, HHS OIG examined the ACOs’ use of hardware, software, and network infrastructure that enable patient data to be recorded and shared on an ongoing basis among multiple providers and across care settings. The ACOs were chosen based on their performance on a quality measure of care coordination and patient safety, a minimum of three years of experience as an ACO, geographic variation, and recommendations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).