Since the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act (PPACA), the health care industry has been actively working to transform the health care industry in many ways. Earlier this week it was announced that Medicare will be aggressively moving provider reimbursement from fee for service to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that pay for value versus volume. (Click here to view announcement!) The target is to have half of Medicare's direct payments to providers through such models by 2018, according to the federal Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, commercial payers have been working with providers on moving provider payments to pay for performance models as well. In today's blog, we will discuss how value-based contracts = innovation in care coordination.

As value based payment models continue to roll out across the industry, providers will need to understand their patient population and implement new ways of providing ongoing care to their patients. Changing from a clinic visit model to a patient engagement model that leverages technology for continued care communication can be delivered at a lower cost and with higher patient satisfaction.

Bridging the gaps in care and meeting the patient where they are at in their personal continuum of care will require multiple modalities of communication. This will improve patient engagement, patient experience and can be done at a lower cost than the clinic setting. Understand what your patients need and what they want from you will lead to changing habits for patients in prevention, pre-disease or active disease.

Be innovative in your solutions for addressing the cost of care as you implement ACOs and manage the care of your attributed patient base. Click here to see how PowerObjects and Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help!