Health care issues continue to dominate the news. However, providers and consumers alike are often bewildered by the proliferation of acronyms being tossed around. Recently, the term health management services has become increasingly common. Like other acronyms, the actual meaning of the term and its impact on the healthcare community is not totally understood. For clarity, all parties involved must grasp the term, what it is, and how its implementation can affect care models in the future.What is an ACO?The acronym itself simply means an Accountable Care Organization. In the past, health care providers were allowed to isolate their practices from those of other healthcare providers. That practice has proven to be ineffective and costly. More importantly, it did not result in the best care for individual patients or groups of patients. ACOs are intended to eliminate that isolation, which in turn demands that all health care providers learn to work together. So, what is an ACO? It is a collaborative effort among providers to enhance care to entire patient populations.Is there a total acceptance of the ACO definition?As a general statement, the concept appears to be fairly well agreed upon, but the ramifications for specific care providers are not as clear. The success of ACO ventures relies on a buy-in from all involved entities, and not everyone is in complete agreement of the payment model that should be adopted. Shared savings, fee for service and capitation models all appear to fit into ACO definitions, but many care providers are still enmeshed in transaction based models. Agreement on payment models is required for ACO organizations to function as intended.Is the ACO solution workable?Given the direction health care efforts are taking, ACO solutions are not only workable, they may be the only real option for many providers. Collaboration that enables the streamlining of care for entire patient populations is the only way to enhance profits at this point, as capitation and other options require health care providers to assume a certain level of risk they were not required to assume in the past. Working with other providers to control costs is, arguably, the best option for providers to succeed in the future.Because of the complexity of ACOs, there will certainly be more questions that arise in the future. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, additional options are certain to arise. To keep abreast of current conditions, visiting sites like ACO definition is strongly recommended.