About this Project
Healthcare finance is a complicated topic that involves multiple players and organizations all working together with one overarching goal in mind: the improvement of patient care. In this course, you learned about various organizational structures in healthcare and the purposes of financial reporting in healthcare. You also became familiar with the various types of health insurance and reimbursement in the United States, along with the current transition to value-based reimbursement.
For this assignment, imagine that you are a doctor at a mid-sized community clinic. Dr. Peterson, a doctor in your practice, suggests creating an accountable care organization (ACO) with other hospitals and healthcare providers to provide quality healthcare to Medicare patients. The other doctors in the practice are not too sure about this, mostly because they don’t understand what an ACO is and what function it serves. Since you are the most junior physician on the staff and just one year out of medical school, Dr. Peterson nominates you to write a memo to the other staff members that will address their concerns.
Your goal for this assignment is to draft a clear and concise memo of at least 1,000 words , addressed to the other doctors in your clinic, explaining the goals, objectives, and purposes of ACOs and why your clinic should consider forming one.
Assignment Specifics
Make sure that your memo includes the following elements:
- A clear definition of ACOs, including their objectives, purposes, and why they are necessary. This section should also include the history behind ACOs.
- Examples of other ACOs and how they have been successful. Make sure to use specific, concrete examples to analyze how specific ACOs have served their patients and community.
- Any potential challenges or disadvantages posed. Make sure to anticipate, address, and rebut any challenges or issues your clinic may face in forming an ACO.
Wrap up your memo with a few concise statements about why this is the best step for your clinic to take.
Related Lessons
The following lessons from the course may help you with this assignment.
Using Sources
Along with relevant Study.com course materials, your memo must include at least two credible, scholarly sources from outside the course. At least one of these sources must be from a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal. The sources must be cited using APA format and should include a mix of both primary and secondary sources.
As a reminder, primary sources are those that report on the original results of the experiment or study, while secondary sources include comments, discussions, or observations about primary sources. Make sure to assess any source you use for validity and reliability, whether they are primary or secondary. For example, Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable source (although the sources listed in the articles may be reliable).
Please see the following Study.com lessons if you need a refresher on APA format:
Use of AI in Study.com Assignments
Acceptable use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT is outlined in the ; please familiarize yourself with this policy to ensure that you have appropriately cited and used AI tools in an authorized manner in the creation of your assignment. You may wish to use to ensure that your assignment is sufficiently unique and free from AI plagiarism.
Reminders about using AI:
- AI may be used as a tool to support your process for creating this assignment but may not create or write your assignment response for you. Plagiarized submissions will not be graded and may result in disciplinary actions.
- All AI usage for this assignment must be properly cited and documented according to the guidelines in the article.
- In addition to in-text citations and inclusion in your Works Cited for the assignment, you must submit a separate document as outlined in the Documenting and Attributing AI section of the above article.
- It is important to fact-check any output you obtain using AI as it may produce inaccuracy or misinformation.
- You are solely responsible for all submitted work that you provide with the use of AI.
- Do not input any confidential or personal information while using AI tools.
- For additional information on generative AI tools, please refer to .
Grading Rubric
| Category | Unacceptable (0-1) | Needs Improvement (2) | Good (3) | Excellent (4) | Total Possible Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objectives, Purposes, & Historical Background | Memo fails to adequately describe the history of ACOs, their objectives, and their purposes. | Memo only adequately describes two out of the following: history, objectives, and purposes. | Memo provides a brief history of ACOs, and adequately describes their objectives and purposes. | Memo clearly explains the history behind ACOs, and accurately and completely describes their objectives and purposes. | 4 |
| Analysis | Memo does not provide any specific, concrete examples of how ACOs have served their community. | Memo provides one (1) specific, concrete example of how ACOs have served their community, OR multiple examples may lack concrete or specific details, facts, or statistics. | Memo provides at least two (2) specific, concrete examples of how ACOs have served their community, and may include relevant statistics and figures. | Memo provides at least three (3) specific, concrete examples of how ACOs have served their community, including relevant statistics and figures. | 4 |
| Research/Original Writing | Memo does not include required number of credible, scholarly sources and required formatting. Memo does not reflect research, and relevant data or supporting evidence is not included. Lacks original writing and thought. | Memo includes required number of sources, but sources may lack credibility and/or may not be scholarly, and formatting is incorrect. Memo may reflect minimal research, and only little relevant data or supporting evidence is included. May lack original thought or writing. | Memo contains minimum number of required sources. Sources are credible and scholarly, but formatting is incorrect. Minimum relevant data, examples, and supporting information has been included. Original thought and writing is present. | Memo includes more than the minimum required number of sources and formatted as required. Sources are credible and scholarly. Memo contains extensive data, examples, and supporting information. Original thought and writing is clear throughout the memo. | 4 |
| Challenges | Memo fails to anticipate any challenges or issues posed by formation of an ACO, AND does not attempt any rebuttal. | Memo anticipates challenges or issues posed by formation of an ACO, BUT does not attempt to rebut those challenges. | Memo anticipates challenges or issues posed by formation of an ACO, AND attempts to rebut those challenges. | Memo clearly anticipates challenges or issues posed by formation of an ACO, AND successfully provides accurate rebuttals to all. | 4 |
| Mechanics | Incorrect spelling, punctuation, capitalization and use of standard English grammar hinders understanding. Word count is lower than 50% of the minimum word count for assignment. | Several instances of incorrect spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage of standard English grammar. Word count is 50-74% of the minimum word count for assignment. | Few instances of incorrect spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage of standard English grammar. Word count is 75-89% of the minimum word count for assignment. | None or extremely few instances of incorrect spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage of standard English grammar. Word count is 90% or more of the minimum word count for assignment. | 4 |
Before You Submit
When you complete your assignment, we suggest taking some time to check for any errors or to add any finishing touches. We also suggest that you use online plagiarism checkers to make sure that your assignment is not too similar to any existing materials. Plagiarized submissions will NOT be graded.
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