Insurers Plan Expansions of ACOs

According to Health Leaders Media, Cigna, Aetna, and Blue Shield of California are stepping up efforts to develop their own Accountable Care Organization (ACO) models for their commercial populations.

While government ACO programs focus on physicians and hospitals providing coordinated care to improve quality and lower the cost of care for beneficiaries, insurance company versions of the comercial ACO are insurer-physician partnerships that provide coordinated care to improve quality and contain healthcare costs across commercial and Medicare Advantage books of business.

Leavitt Partners, a Salt Lake City–based health intelligence business estimates that there are currently nearly 200 commercial ACOs or ACO-like organizations at some stage of development.

Cigna has accelerated the development of its collaborative accountable care (CAC) program, which is their variation on the ACO program created as part of federal healthcare reform.

Like Cigna’s efforts, Aetna’s ACO program is in its infancy but has plans for significant growth. It has 10 ACO agreements in place and expects to have 20 under contract by the end of 2012. It plans to develop a national ACO network over the next five years.

Employers, both fully insured and self-insured, who work with these companies may be hearing more about commercial ACOs in the near future.  One possible option for employers is to offer an ACO product as one of an employee's health plan options; another place commercial ACOs may appear is in private exchanges.