8 Key Factors for an ACO

Intermountain Health Care is often cited as a health care system that "gets it." So what do they say you need to create a successful ACO?

1. Create a meaningful, living mission, vision, and values for the organization. Make sure they all live by it.
2. Balance commitment to all dimensions of care, including clinical goals, operational goals, and financial goals.
3. Develop collaborative working partnerships among physicians, nurses, and hospital operations. Use annual goal-setting.
4. Plan for the future and stay the course. Do not give up your plans based on short-term setbacks. Do not give up your plans based on short-term setbacks.
5. Create an infrastructure and tools to support capability and future enhancements—not necessarily capacity.. Focus on getting better, not necessarily bigger.
6. Train all leaders in common principles of management and continuous improvement so that common processes of problem-solving are practiced system-wide.
7. Create a culture that rewards innovation, continual improvement, accountability, commitment, and honesty , while building on the strengths of the local environment.
8. Become a learning organization, and plan clinical improvements based on evidence gathered from your own system as from the literature.