The Year That Was: In 2020, Tumult for ACOs, and a Year-End Holiday Gift Under the Tree

If any sector of U.S. healthcare has been buffeted by winds of change and by ongoing developments in 2020, it’s been the accountable care organization (ACO) sector. Facing a combination of policy, payment, and operational challenges, ACO leaders have moved ahead with grit and determination to show the value of care that is accountable—it’s in their name, after all—to the purchasers, payers, and consumers of healthcare; but 2020 has thrown more stumbling blocks in their way than could ever have been imagined on January 1 of this year.

But let’s make the end the beginning here: late in the evening on Monday, December 21, the U.S. Congress passed a combination of omnibus spending bill, to keep the federal government open and running, and a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package.

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