Dive Brief:
- Two-thirds of Americans are now served by the 500 accountable care organizations that exist across the US, a report from the Oliver Wyman consulting firm concludes.
- All told, ACOs serve between 46 and 52 million Americans, or between 15% and 17% of the population.
- Roughly 10% of Medicare beneficiaries, or about 5.3 million people, get care from ACOs. That's up from about 4 million in July 2013.
Dive Insight:
Given the drive towards higher quality, cost-effective care, the number of ACOs should double nationwide by the end of 2014. However, the researchers note that it's not clear how many ACOs there will need to be before competition forces meaningful change in eliminating unnecessary services and focusing on preventive care. Despite the growth in the number of ACOs, in other words, they are still in their early development stages.