Newswise — The American Medical Group Association is convening more than 650 participants, representing the leaders of the nation's leading healthcare provider organizations, at IQL 2010: AMGA National Summit on ACOs, September 29 - October 1 at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida. The summit is setting attendance records for this annual meeting of the association's Institute for Quality Leadership, which this year is focused on creating high-performance care organizations.
"The turnout at this year's meeting reflects our members' increasing interest in the ACO model," said Donald W. Fisher, PhD, CAE, AMGA president and chief executive officer. "AMGA's efforts to promote accountability and value in health care have been steadily gaining momentum since the enactment of health reform legislation earlier this eyar. We have seen remarkable interest in programs that help our members develop ACOs."
Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, will deliver a keynote address at the IQL: 2010 AMGA National Summit on ACOs on Wednesday, September 29. Dr. Berwick will be discussin his vision for CMS and the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model.
Other presentations will feature leaders from the following AMGA members: Advocate Health Care, Alegent Health Clinic, Billings Clinic, Carilion Clinic, Cleveland clinic, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic, Dean Health System, The Everett Clinic, Geisinger Health System, Henry Ford Health System, Holzer Clinic, Intermountain Healthcare, Lahey Clinic, Lehigh Valley Physician Group, Marshfield Clinic, Mayo Health System, Northwest Physicians Network, Physician Health Partners, The Permanente Federation, PriMed Physicians, Spectrum Health Medical Group, St. John's Health System, University of Utah Health Care Community Clinics, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Weill Cornell Physician Association, Wellstar Health System, and Western Washington Medical Group.
The summit is part of AMGA's Institute for Quality Leadership (IQL), devoted to improving the quality of care delivered in the U.S. healthcare system through the advancement of knowledge and the education of healthcare professionals.
In addition to the leadership of medical groups, a host of healthcare vendors exhibited at the conference, and many provided educational grants to support the conference. For a full list of contributors, visit www.amga.org.
AMGA is convening two collaboratives focused on ACOs: the Development Collaborative and an Implementation Collaborative. The collaboratives will offer access to content experts and provide a forum in which peer organizations can learn from one another as they begin to build and refine business and care processes to develop high-quality, efficient, and sustainable systems of care that provide high-value care to their patients and communities. The first meeting of the ACO Development Collaborative will take place in conjunction with the AMGA National Summit on ACOs. The first meeting of the ACO Implementation Collaborative will take place in January 2011.
Background
For many years, AMGA has pushed for reform efforts that foster the creation of community-based entities accountable for comprehensive healthcare services-referred to as ACOs in the newly passed healthcare legislation-that promote accountability and build on the practice patterns of high performing organizations. The organization, in fact, provided guidance to congressional leaders on the appropriate language regarding ACOs and lobbied aggressively for its inclusion.
As part of its continuing efforts, the association hosted a series of regional meetings in 2010 that brought together the thought leaders of healthcare delivery systems to educate medical groups on how to develop, operate, and maintain high-performing ACOs. The meetings focused on physician-led, patient-centered ACOs and went beyond the theoretical by bringing together actual case studies presented by medical group leaders with firsthand experience in providing accountable care to their patients. AMGA's Institute for Quality Leadership (IQL), subtitled the "AMGA National Summit on ACOs," and the collaboratives continue the work of regional meetings by bringing groups from across the country to share their insights and strategies.
The American Medical Group Association represents medical groups, including some of the nation's largest, most prestigious medical practices, independent practice associations, and integrated healthcare delivery systems. AMGA's mission is to improve health care for patients by supporting multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care. The members of AMGA deliver health care to approximately 110 million patients in 49 states, nearly 1 in 3 Americans. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, AMGA is the strategic partner for medical groups, providing a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy, educational and networking programs and publications, benchmarking data services, and financial and operational assistance. www.amga.org
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