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Introduction
This is the next in our short series of 'bite size' emails to give you a flavour of the key documents and changes in Health and care and to provide links to further information. Do keep an eye on our website as well.
Accountable Care Partnerships (ACPs)
The concept behind an ACP is that a group of providers agree to work together to deliver care for a defined population by forming an ACP. They will be collectively responsible for commissioning services to deliver against a set of outcomes, designed by the ACP. Providers will work under a single contract with a single pooled budget to take joint responsibility for delivering services.
The NHS needs to put in place new ways of commissioning and paying for care. This includes longer term, outcomes-based contracts and the use of budgets that cover the health care needs of a defined population (‘capitated budgets’) rather than payment according to the number of patients seen or treated (‘payment by results’). Commissioning needs to be integrated to facilitate the development of integrated models of care.
In North West London the ACP framework is being developed for the CWHHE area which covers Central London, West London, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow and Ealing CCGs (see our diagramme in Issue 1), and will build on the Whole Systems model. The approach will be 'One System, One Budget, Better Outcomes'.
ACPs are beginning to form most actively in Brent, Hillingdon and Tri-Borough CCGs. A contracting approach to support ACP formation was embedded in the 16/17 contracting round, centring on open discussions, commissioning for outcomes, two-year contracts, financial stability, and jointly shared incentive payments.
CWHHE Principles for ACPs
Built around the registered population
- Outcomes based commissioning
- Commissioned to deliver outcomes with contracts of at least 10 years in length
- Inclusive of the functions most necessary to deliver those outcomes
- Accountable for end-to-end care of the population
- Functioning at a large scale, sufficient to hold clinical and financial accountability for a population
- Making decisions on resource allocation and performance with the organisation/partnership
- Embedding service users in decision-making and governance
We will be explaining ACPs more fully at our event on 27th October. You can also find a brief explanation on ACPs here.
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