AJMC® in the Press, August 4, 2017

A recent study that showed the importance of tailoring wellness messages to target audiences was the focus of an article in Patient Engagement HIT this week. The study, which appeared in the July issue of The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®), found that clinicians can use electronic health record data to identify patients for wellness messages, but messages must be crafted to match the population they are meant to reach. Kaiser Permanente’s study found that minority women with a history of gestational diabetes were underrepresented in these outreach programs, despite their risk level.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) were promoted through in the Affordable Care Act as vehicles for health systems to find partners within and beyond the traditional boundaries of healthcare to improve outcomes, particularly for patients with costly care. ACOs have grown in number and size, but are they working? An article in RevCycleIntelligence examined the challenges ACOs face, and cited research that examined the problem of provider buy-in. An article appearing in the September 2016 issue of The American Journal of Accountable Care^® surveyed physicians in an ACO and found ambivalence about participation, including care coordination, one of the essential features. There was also a lack of understanding of what it meant to belong to an ACO.