Accountable care organizations (ACO) emerge each year aiming to improve carequality while controlling rising health care costs. This cross-sectional studyexamined whether ACO arrangements within a Preferred Provider Organization and aHealth Maintenance Organization (HMO) effected patient experience. A modifiedConsumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems ACO survey was used toassess care domain differences overall and by product. The association betweenACO and non-ACO populations and items in each significant care domain, fluvaccination, and delayed and emergency department care are explored usingmultivariable logistic regression. Accountable care organizations patients weremore likely to report it was easy to get a specialist appointment (adjusted oddsratio [AOR], 1.54; 95% CI = 1.11-2.13), less likely to report visiting theemergency department for care (AOR, 0.70; 95% CI = 0.55-0.90) and communicatingwith their provider using technology (AOR, 0.79; 95% CI = 0.65-0.96). Reportedexperience differed for Access to Specialists between ACO andnon-ACO groups among overall and HMO respondents (79.4% vs 74.7% and 79.9% vs75.5%, P < .05, respectively). The ACO patient experiencewas not substantially better. Strategies incorporating satisfaction andexperience, whether linked to contracts or not, should be encouraged given ACOsgoal to optimize patient care. Survey instruments must be improved to capturenuances of provider care and patient bond that is vital in ACO integratedsystems.
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