Association Between Specialist Office Visits and Health Expenditures in Accountable Care Organizations.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) aim to control health expenditures while improving quality of care. Primary care has been emphasized as a means to reduce spending, but little is known about the implications of using specialists for achieving this ACO objective.

Objective

To examine the association between ACO-beneficiary office visits conducted by specialists and the cost and utilization outcomes of those visits.

Design, setting, and participants

This cross-sectional study obtained data on 620 distinct ACOs from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations Public-Use Files from April 1, 2012, to September 30, 2017. Generalized estimating equation models were used for analysis of ACOs, adjusting for

SUBMITTER: Shetty VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6624801 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature