Payment Reform for Primary Care Within the Accountable Care Organization : A Critical Issue for Health System Reform

Physicians in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are being paid primarily fee-for-service, a practice that does not align them with the goals of the ACO. This paper provides a set of issues related to the current payment system and changing to a more global form of payment for primary care. The bottom line is that physicians must have confidence in, a commitment by new organizations such as ACOs to provide practices with the supports necessary for them to do their jobs well and to pay commensurately with the value they create. Such payment reform can provide the basis for a new social contract between the profession and society and help achieve the goal needed by the nation of better health care at lower cost