Comparison of Healthcare Quality Outcomes Between Accountable Care Organizations and Physician Group Practices.

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) were created under the Affordable Care Act to deliver better quality of care at reduced cost compare with the traditional fee-for-service model. But their effectiveness in achieving healthcare quality metrics is unclear. We analyzed ACO and physician group practice (PGP) performance rates for the single coronary artery disease measure and four diabetes mellitus measures now publicly reported on the Medicare Physician Compare Web site for program year 2012. There was no statistically significant difference in reported quality measures between ACOs and PGPs. Our study shows that PGPs can achieve outcomes at par with ACOs.