Back to Building and Running an ACO
Module 5
Quality, Benchmark, and Sustainability
The quality gate on savings, the benchmark as a multi-year strategic variable, and what separates ACOs that last from those that quit.
3 lessons About 14 min
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Explain how the quality gate converts clinical performance into money
- Anticipate how benchmark rebasing affects savings over successive years
- Identify the traits that distinguish ACOs that last from those that quit
- Quality Reporting and the Gate Savings only pay out if quality clears the bar. This lesson covers how ACOs report quality today and the shift to digital measures. About 4 min
- Benchmark Strategy Over Time The benchmark decides whether your work shows up as savings. This lesson covers how to understand and plan around it, including the ratchet. About 5 min
- Making the ACO Sustainable The capstone: what separates ACOs that last and improve from those that quit. An honest account of the durable ingredients. About 5 min
Module quiz
Answer all questions to see your score.
1. Why does an ACO's quality performance matter financially?
Savings are conditional on clearing the quality bar, so an ACO cannot hit its numbers by stinting on care.
2. What is the 'ratchet' problem for an ACO over time?
Having wrung out easy inefficiency, the ACO must keep cutting from an already-efficient base, so early success can make later success harder.
3. Which factors most consistently distinguish durable, successful ACOs?
The evidence points repeatedly to these fundamentals, not to shortcuts, as the traits of ACOs that sustain savings.