Austin Regional Clinic supports new Accountable Health Care Public Education Program

Austin Regional Clinic is one of the medical groups recognized in a new public awareness program as being among those health care organizations that provide value and are "accountable" to patients.

The project, www.5realanswers.org, provides easily accessible tools, research, definitions, case studies, and FAQs about what accountable care should be, why it is important to the health of our country, and how to find it today in America. The campaign is comprised of a series of three micro sites:

For Consumers: www.AccountableCareChoices.org
For Media: www.AccountableCareFacts.org
For Policymakers: www.AccountableCareStories.org

The new public awareness initiative provides the groups above with resources and information about the value of care coordination and accountable care to patients and to national health care reform as a whole, as the debate continues. The program was developed by The Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP), a subsidiary of the American Medical Group Association (AMGA).

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), along with care coordination and medical homes, are touted as potential avenues for achieving the health reform goals of controlling healthcare costs and improving quality. The CAPP member groups, including ARC and other health care leaders such as the Geisinger Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Health Systems and others, have been leaders in developing healthcare quality programs that are among the best in the nation.

Austin Regional Clinic has a commitment to patient-centered, coordinated care and played an active role in developing the CAPP campaign to share the knowledge, experience, and vision of what accountable care can be.

Dr. Norman Chenven, ARC CEO & Founder, who is also an AMGA Board Member and Chair of the CAPP Communications Workgroup, says "If you look at how ARC takes care of patients today, you see that we are already practicing accountable care, and the model of care we provide is the wave of the future in healthcare delivery."