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What is the Accountable Care Community?

An Accountable Care Community is a collaborative, integrated and measurable approach that emphasizes shared responsibility for the health of the community, including health promotion and disease prevention, access to quality services, and healthcare delivery. –Dr. Janine E. Janosky, Vice President, Center for Community Health Improvement, ABIA

The Accountable Care Community (ACC) of Akron, Ohio is a trendsetting initiative which unites physicians and other health care organizations to collectively combat the burden of disease, and promote healthy living in Northeast Ohio.  The effort is led by the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron’s Center for Community Health Improvement (CCHI) and includes over 60 organizations ranging from public and community to faith-based health organizations.

The ACC model is structured around the following components:

  • Development of integrated medical and public health models to deliver clinical care in tandem with health promotion and disease prevention efforts;
  • Utilization of interprofessional teams to align care management and improve patient access and care coordination;
  • Collaboration among health systems and public health, to enhance communication and planning efforts;
  • Development of a robust health information technology infrastructure, to enable access to comprehensive, timely patient information that facilitates the delivery of appropriate care and execution of effective care transitions across the continuum of providers;
  • Implementation of an integrated and fully mineable surveillance and data warehouse functionality, to monitor and report on the health status of the community, measuring change over time and assessing the impact of various intervention strategies;
  • Development of a dissemination infrastructure to rapidly share best practices;
  • Design and execution of a robust ACC implementation platform, specific tactics, and impact measurement tool; and
  • Policy analysis and advocacy to facilitate ACC success and sustainability.