Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs): General Information

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high quality care to the Medicare patients they serve. Coordinated care helps ensure that patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, with the goal of avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors. When an ACO succeeds in both delivering high-quality care and spending health care dollars more wisely, it will share in the savings it achieves for the Medicare program.

ACO Programs at CMS

Medicare offers several ACO programs, including:

Case Studies

Toolkits

Tip Sheet

A series of three Accelerated Development Learning Sessions were held in select cities across the country. Additional information on each Session can be accessed below:

  • ACO: Accelerated Development Learning Sessions - For existing or emerging Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to develop a broad and deep understanding of how to establish and implement core functions to improve care delivery and population health while reducing growth in costs.

Where Health Care Innovation is Happening