Addressing Population Health: Integrators in the Accountable Health Communities Model

The use of a community integrator, a trusted organization that can understand and represent the needs of the community; engage all the relevant service providers within a community (including health care services, public health, and social services); and leverage data-driven, multisector, community-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association 2017-11, Vol.318 (19), p.1865-1866
Main Authors: Billioux, Alexander, Conway, Patrick H, Alley, Dawn E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountable Care Organizations - organization & administration
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (U.S.)
Community Health Services - organization & administration
Government programs
Health care
Health Status Disparities
Humans
Integrators
Life expectancy
Life span
Population
Population growth
Population Health
Public health
Quality control
Social services
United States
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Summary:The use of a community integrator, a trusted organization that can understand and represent the needs of the community; engage all the relevant service providers within a community (including health care services, public health, and social services); and leverage data-driven, multisector, community-level quality improvement toward shared goals for a defined population. Trends in life expectancy in the U.S. include the sheer magnitude of the differences observed: in 2014, life expectancy differed by 20 years between the US counties with the highest and lowest life expectancies. The trend that in some US counties, life expectancy appears to be decreasing, an unprecedented finding that demands action. And the importance of local context: even among low-income individuals, life expectancy differs by more than 4 years depending on where people live. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)'s Accountable Health Communities (AHC) model is designed to test this approach, by assessing whether identifying and addressing the health-related social needs of Medicare and Medicare beneficiaries improves quality of care and reduces costs at the individual-beneficiary level and use of an integrator can further improve quality and reduce cost by engaging partners in identifying and addressing community-level gaps in 20 communities across the country.
ISSN:0098-7484
1538-3598
DOI:10.1001/jama.2017.15063