Deans of Miller School and Johns Hopkins Discuss Accountable Care Organizations

Posted: 03.11.2011

Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D., senior vice president for medical affairs and dean of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and CEO of the University of Miami Health System and Edward D. Miller, M.D., Dean and CEO of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine discussed accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the new era of health care reform. Their discussion included how their respective institutions have already made significant strides in developing ACOs with the goal of developing more cost-effective, efficient and quality health care while improving coordination of care for patients along the entire continuum of care.

In Part 1, Dean Miller outlines the framework and characteristics of ACOs and Dean Goldschmidt reviews the critical role centralized electronic medical record systems play in ACOs.

In Part 2, Dean Miller discusses the New England Journal of Medicine paper he co-authored with Hopkins faculty member Scott Berkowitz, M.D., that describes several programs at Hopkins that demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of ACOs, and notes how ACOs differ from Health Maintenance Organizations that were popular during the 1990′s. Dean Goldschmidt emphasizes the importance of measuring and rewarding clinical excellence.