On October 19, 2010, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released their draft criteria for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The draft is now available for public comments. Reviewers are asked to submit their comments in writing via the public comment website, http://publiccomments.ncqa.org, by 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, November 19, 2010. For more information on the NCQA ACO's standards, please visit the NCQA website, which includes links to the 2011 ACO Public Comment Overview, the NCQA 2011 ACO Criteria and more.

Founded in 1990, NCQA, a non-profit organization, has been driving improvement throughout the health care system and helping to raise the issue of health care quality to the top of the national agenda. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations.

Created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, ACOs are provider groups that accept responsibility for the cost and quality of care delivered to a specific population of patients cared for by the groups' clinicians. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is required to create a national voluntary program for ACOs. Policymakers are hoping that ACOs achieve the triple aim: improved quality, increased patient satisfaction, lower per capita costs).

NCQA is currently establishing a certification program for ACOs, which will be based on those criteria.

NCQA convened a task force to develop a framework for the standards for ACOs. To develop the criteria, the task force took into account the current state of ACO development, and its relationship to the medical home model. The task force developed qualifying criteria as a set of core capabilities that an ACO should demonstrate to be recognized as an accountable entity. Organizations seeking certification would meet these criteria at the outset and be reviewed against them at intervals of every 2–3 years. The initial criteria picked by the task force would rate an ACO based on cost, quality and patient experience, and be applied to the following principles:

• ACOs have a strong foundation of primary care
• ACOs report reliable measures to support quality improvement and eliminate waste and inefficiencies to reduce cost.
• ACOs are committed to improving quality, improving patient experience and reducing per capita costs.
• ACOs work cooperatively towards these goals with stakeholders in a community or region.
• ACOs create and support a sustainable workforce.

The Society is following closely the development of ACOs. CMS is currently developing proposed regulations related to ACO, which are scheduled to be released in early December. The Society is planning to provide public comments on the CMS' ACOs proposed regulations.