In July, 2013 the Northwest Ohio ACO signed a Care Coordination Agreement with Ohio Living (OL), an Ohio non-profit corporation. Under this agreement OL will provide post-acute discharge care coordination to ACO beneficiaries with the goal of improving beneficiaries transition from the hospital, improve overall patient quality and reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions.
In January 2016 the Northwest Ohio ACO signed a Preferred Provider Agreement with Sincera – Supportive Care and Symptom Relief, a division of Hospice of Northwest Ohio, for palliative care services. Under this agreement, Sincera will provide palliative care services to ACO beneficiaries at the request of the beneficiaries’ PCPs.
The ACO is seeking waivers of CMP, anti-kickback, and physician self-referral Laws for these arrangements.