ACO Primary/Care Integration Reduced Emergency Department Visits By 13%

After receiving behavioral health treatment through a collaborative care program that integrated behavioral health into primary care delivery, members of a Medicare accountable care organization (ACO) made 13% fewer emergency department visits. The ACO, UCLA Health, created an all-payer program, in which behavioral health and primary care professionals worked closely together to address consumers’ behavioral health and physical health needs. The collaborative care program was implemented in November 2012, and as of January 2016, had resulted in the reduction in emergency department use.

Before the program launched, the UCLA Health ACO members who were later referred to the program . . .