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Employers spark movement for standard reporting on ACOs by health plans!

Introducing Standardized Plan ACO Reporting for Customers (SPARC)

When asked in 2016 about their biggest challenge or frustration, many employers and other health care purchasers cited their lack of insight into the impact of accountable care organizations (ACOs) on their populations and their spending. As we spotlight on our blog the number of ACOs has skyrocketed since 2011 and the commercial market covers ~60% of the lives enrolled in one.

So why don’t employers have visibility into how their health plan’s ACO programs are performing? Over the last year, seven purchasers developed SPARC to change that. 

CPR’s Standardized Plan ACO Report for Customers (SPARC) is a suite of tools employers can use to hold health plans accountable for ACO performance.  After all, employers and other health care purchasers rely on their health plans as their agents in the market place.

As easy as reading a nutrition label

The flagship SPARC resource is the Standard Plan ACO Report. This reporting template, inspired by the nutrition label, features a carefully crafted list of performance metrics that employers can request from their health plans.

SPARC ALSO INCLUDES REQUEST FOR INFORMATION QUESTIONS, MODEL CONTRACT LANGUAGE, PERFORMANCE GUARANTEES, AND A PROVIDER CHECKLIST.
View SPARC tools page to download

Developed for purchasers by purchasers

CPR, with subject matter expertise contributed by Willis Towers Watson, convened seven health care purchasers for a Collaborative. The group did research, shared experiences, consulted experts, and developed and carefully vetted the tools included in SPARC.

PARTICIPANTS INCLUDED EQUITY HEALTHCARE, GE, GOOGLE, LENOVO, THE PENNSYLVANIA EMPLOYEES BENEFIT TRUST FUND, PITNEY BOWES AND OTHERS.
Learn more about Collaboratives

Why do we need to SPARC a movement?

We want to drive consistent usage of the Standard Plan ACO Report across the industry so that employers can compare performance across plans and assess whether they want to embrace the current ACO strategy or push for changes.

If you’d like to learn more about the current ACO landscape and hear directly from your employer-purchaser peers on why SPARC is so important, watch the recording of our Virtual Summit below!

Virtual Summit: Holding Health Plans Accountable for Their Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Arrangements