ACO: Accelerated Development Learning Sessions (ADLS)

Overview

A series of three Accelerated Development Learning Sessions have been held in select cities around the country in Minneapolis, MN, San Francisco, CA, and Baltimore, MD. Each Accelerated Development Learning Session (ADLS) was an opportunity for leadership from 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.

Additional details about each cities' ADLS are available through the following links:

• Minneapolis, MN - June 20-22, 2011.
• San Francisco, CA - September 15-16, 2011.
• Baltimore, MD - November 17-18, 2011.

Background

An Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is a group of health care providers in a care delivery system who agree to accept joint responsibility for the medical care and management as well as the cost and quality outcomes of a designated population of patients. An ACO transforms the organization, delivery, and financing of care; it replaces fragmented, uncoordinated care with an arrangement in which providers work together to achieve shared goals of better care at a lower total cost. An ACO also preserves the ability of patients to choose and form an active partnership with the providers that best meet their own needs.

Details

Each ADLS involved four steps: (1) pre-session planning, (2) an intensive in-person working meeting to jump start ACO formation by identifying shared goals, key challenges, and core competencies, (3) follow-on webinars, and (4) the completion of a comprehensive ACO implementation plan with year-by-year benchmarks over the next 3 years.

The benefits of attending an Accelerated Development Learning Session, or ADLS, included:

• Access to faculty with ACO experience. Faculty at each ADLS consisted of senior leadership from organizations that had already developed many of the characteristics of an ACO. These practitioners have had first-hand experience with what is working and not working in the field.
• Deep understanding of ACO core competencies. The ADLS covered several core competencies and strategies for building ACO capacities. Individual sessions and faculty helped participants complete corresponding sections of a comprehensive ACO implementation plan, including defining ACO goals and an action plan for establishing ACO core competencies.
• A guided start to developing an implementation plan. Participants completed a comprehensive implementation plan for establishing the core competencies of an ACO, based on an understanding of their current readiness and gap analysis. Each organization began the crucial process of identifying specific goals for care improvement. Resources, toolkits, and faculty support were provided to help participants complete, update, and prepare to implement a comprehensive implementation plan that included benchmarks for developing each core competency over the next one-to-three years.