Accountable Care Organizations: The National Landscape

Carrie H. Colla is assistant professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Geisel School of Medicine and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Dartmouth College. She is a health economist specializing in health insurance markets, insurance benefit design, provider payment, and the care and needs of the elderly. Her recent research examines the effectiveness of payment and delivery system reform and use of effective and low-value care by health systems. Recent articles include “First National Survey of ACOs Finds That Physicians Are Playing Strong Leadership and Ownership Roles” (Health Affairs, 2014) and “Swimming against the Current — What Might Work to Reduce Low-Value Care?” (New England Journal of Medicine, 2014). She received her AB from Dartmouth College and an MA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Elliott Fisher is director of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and the John E. Wennberg Distinguished Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College. He directed the research and helped coordinate the policy initiatives that led to the implementation of accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the United States. His research now focuses on exploring the determinants of successful ACO formation and on evaluating the impact of health reforms on health system performance. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and his internal medicine residency and public health training at the University of Washington. Two of his most recent published works are “A Taxonomy of Accountable Care Organizations for Policy and Practice” (Health Services Research, 2014) and “Accountable Health Communities: Getting There from Here” (JAMA, 2014).

Eric Kessell is a policy analyst for the Berkeley Forum for Improving California's Healthcare Delivery System in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He has over ten years of experience in a wide range of health-related fields, including epidemiology, health services research, clinical trials and health policy. He holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral training in the psychiatry department of the University of California, San Francisco. His technical skills include geographic information systems (GIS) and time-series and regression analysis. His research interests include the socioeconomic determinants of health, health services in safety net settings, and payment reform. He recently authored a brief on expanded access to outpatient palliative care services in California.

Patricia Ramsay is a research specialist and administrative director of the Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research at the University of California, Berkeley. She has over twenty years of experience in public health research management, data quality control, and data analysis in the areas of cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, autoimmune disorders, and other chronic conditions. She is project director for the third round of the National Study of Physician Organizations, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and provides management and consultation to other studies of accountable care organization formation and performance, patient activation and engagement, and patients' perception of care integration. She received her undergraduate degree in international political economy and her master's degree in public health, both from the University of California, Berkeley.