OIG: Medicare ACOs have yet to realize full potential of health IT

Medicare accountable care organizations aren’t using electronic health records to their full potential, a new report shows.

The report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) gathered data from across six ACOs, some of which used a single EHR across provider networks and were thus able to share data in real time. Some of the included ACOs had access to health information exchanges (HIEs) that allowed for access to patient data even when the patient was treated outside the ACO network.

In addition, most of the ACOs used data to group patients according to the potential severity and cost of their health conditions.