Nearly half of Traditional Medicare beneficiaries receive their care through an Accountable Care Organization (ACO), in which provider groups are subject to healthcare cost and quality benchmarks for a defined patient population. Although the skills of the social work profession align with the goals of these contracts (coordination of service needs across multiple health and social care settings), there is little information on social worker inclusion as behavioral health providers in ACOs. We developed and administered a national survey of organizations (n = 227) with Medicare and Medicaid ACO contracts to provide an estimate of the percentage of ACOs that reported social worker-delivered behavioral health treatment. Approximately half of the respondents reported that social workers delivered mental health treatment, while a third reported that social workers delivered substance use treatment. Organizations that included specialty mental health treatment facilities were more likely to report social worker-delivered mental health and substance use treatment. Organizations that included rural healthcare facilities were less likely to report social worker-delivered substance use treatment. By describing the prevalence and predictors of social worker-delivered behavioral health treatment in ACOs, this study contributes foundational estimates for future research on the role of this important workforce in ACOs.

中文翻译：

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负责任的护理组织中的社会工作者提供的行为健康治疗。


近一半的传统医疗保险受益人通过责任医疗组织 （ACO） 接受护理，在该组织中，提供者群体受特定患者群体的医疗保健成本和质量基准的约束。尽管社会工作专业的技能与这些合同的目标（跨多个健康和社会护理机构协调服务需求）一致，但关于社会工作者被纳入 ACO 的行为健康提供者的信息很少。我们开发并管理了一项对签订 Medicare 和 Medicaid ACO 合同的组织 （n = 227） 的全国调查，以估计报告社会工作者提供的行为健康治疗的 ACO 百分比。大约一半的受访者报告说，社会工作者提供心理健康治疗，而三分之一的受访者报告说，社会工作者提供物质使用治疗。包括专业心理健康治疗机构的组织更有可能报告社会工作者提供的心理健康和药物使用治疗。包括农村医疗机构的组织不太可能报告社会工作者提供的物质使用治疗。通过描述 ACO 中社会工作者提供的行为健康治疗的患病率和预测因素，本研究为未来关于这一重要劳动力在 ACO 中的作用的研究提供了基础估计。