On September 25, 2017, more than 300 stakeholders from across the state gathered to discuss how community organizations, health systems, insurers, and others can share responsibility for the health of our communities through collaborative and integrated strategies to promote health, prevent disease, and ensure access to quality services.
Research has shown that the health outcomes of individuals often have more to do with the conditions in which they live, learn, work and age than by the medical care they receive. However, traditional health care is not designed to address the social, behavioral and economic factors (e.g. housing, transportation, access to healthy food, education, and health behaviors) that impact health outcomes. Accountable care communities are.
Accountable care communities address health from a community perspective, pulling multiple stakeholders together in a coalition that shares responsibility for addressing multiple determinants of health. Driven by changes in health care payment and delivery that are challenging providers to be accountable for patient health and well-being in new ways, accountable care communities respond to these challenges by integrating health care with public health and social services. Accountable care communities look not just at the total coast of health care services, but also consider investments in health across other sectors in order to identify areas for improvement. Doing so allows accountable care communities to organize and engage together across sectors to improve health outcomes.
NCIOM's 2017 Annual Meeting explored opportunities to develop Accountable Care Communities in North Carolina, featuring both state and national examples.
Check out additional video clips from Jennifer DeCubellis' Keynote Address at the 2017 Annual Meeting.