Accountable Care Organizations and Medically Integrated Fitness: A Beneficial Partnership

November 22, 2022

In the U.S., rising healthcare costs have vexed payors, providers, and most important of all, patients. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 gave rise to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in 2011. ACOs started as “groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated, high-quality care to their Medicare patients.” (1). While ACOs started as a Medicare payment model, they have spread to private payor settings. ACOs use “data analytics and population health management strategies to increase efficiencies, improve patient outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.” (2) Since 2012, ACOs have saved Medicare close to $5B. (3)

There is a natural, symbiotic relationship between ACOs and medically integrated fitness programming. While each inhabits a different healthcare sector – one is a payor while the other is a provider – each strives to improve outcomes. Both are designed to reward value as opposed to volume, by ensuring the right care is provided by the right provider, for maximum benefit. In addition, both are meant to fill gaps across the care continuum; ACOs by monitoring member care, and medically integrated fitness by encouraging people with chronic conditions (or experiencing a life event) to manage their own care by participating in medically monitored fitness and wellness activities.

While the U.S. continues to look for ways to control rising healthcare costs, the partnership between ACOs and medically integrated fitness can be leveraged to benefit all.

To learn more about implementing medically integrated fitness programming at your hospital-based fitness center, click here  to contact Power Wellness.

• https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/ACO
• https://healthpayerintelligence.com/news/understanding-the-basics-of-accountable-care-organizations
• https://www.naacos.com/acos-and-cost-savings