Parks Associates: U.S. Patients of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to Exceed 130 Million by 2017

DALLAS, TX--(Marketwired - Jul 23, 2014) - Parks Associates digital health research finds recent business and regulatory changes in healthcare will drive the number of U.S. patients receiving care from an ACO from 40 million in 2015 to over 130 million by 2017. The research firm, which will host the inaugural Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, September 4-5 in San Diego, says the new emphasis on performance-based metrics and payment will boost usage of this business model as well as the healthcare technologies that promise to improve care outcomes.

"Reforms to the healthcare financial model tie compensation to care outcomes, and ACOs, built on the coordinated care model, align well with this new emphasis," said Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. "Parks Associates defines ACOs in the broadest sense to include Medicare ACOs, private-sector Patient-Centered Medical Home practices, and healthcare providers that accept a pay-for-performance arrangement with private and public payers."

Parks Associates expects ACOs to generate nearly $1 billion in care management revenues this year.

"At Connected Health Summit, industry leaders will discuss innovative business models that match with these new initiatives and the technologies that support them, including home monitoring, cloud services, mobile computing, and data analytics," Wang said.

"The digital health markets need to develop business models that make sense while organizations are transitioning to these different care reimbursement models," said Sandra Elliott, Director, Consumer Technology and Service Development, Meridian Health. "Health and technology providers should focus on providing end-to-end scalable solutions that offer financial benefits to purchasers while showing value to patients as individuals by enabling them to live their life to the fullest, thus encouraging strong consumer engagement."

The Connected Health Summit session "Path to Quality of Care: Leveraging Technology for ACOs" will examine the challenges and opportunities facing ACOs face in delivering patient-centered care and the best practices to proactively engage patients. Speakers include:

• Julie Cherry, Director of Clinical Services, Intel-GE Care Innovations
• Gaurov Dayal, President, Delivery, Finance and Integration, SSM Health Care
• Sandra Elliott, Director, Consumer Technology and Service Development, Meridian Health
• Tammy Richards, Operations Director, Patient and Clinical Engagement, Intermountain Healthcare

The two-day summit will feature keynote addresses from Ascension Health, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, Qualcomm Life, and Walgreens as well as interactive panels focusing on the impact of connected devices, mobile health services, and new health reforms on service providers, connected device manufacturers, payors, and institutions in the digital health markets.

Connected Health Summit Sponsors are ADT, Care Innovations, Lowe's, Z-Wave, Independa, Masimo, and Alya Networks.

Information about the Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers is available at www.connectedhealthsummit.com. Press passes for the event are available at http://www.parksassociates.com/events/connected-health/media. To schedule a meeting with an analyst or speaker, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com or 720.987.6614.

About Connected Health Summit
Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers analyzes the roles of connected health technologies and innovations in driving changes in consumer behaviors and business models. The event focuses on four areas of consumer health technologies in particular, which all require active consumer participation to be successful: remote health monitoring for accountable care, consumer-centric wellness and fitness solutions, independent living technologies and services, and innovative convenience care models.

Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers will take place September 4-5 at the Omni Hotel in San Diego, CA. www.connectedhealthsummit.com. Follow the event on Twitter at @CONN_Health_Smt. Subscribe to Parks Associates' digital health newsletter at http://www.parksassociates.com/newsletters_subscribe.