ACO Advisory Services 2014
Navigating the Uncharted Territory of Accountable Care

WORTH KNOWING 

PREMIER’S VOLUME AND PERFORMANCE EXCEL; ADVISORY BOARD AND DELOITTE FOLLOW CLOSELY.

With a less than two-point KLAS score spread among the top three performers, Premier leads with the most validated projects and receives high marks for deep expertise in government value-based programs. Advisory Board receives commendations for their physician knowledge and excellent customer service, and Deloitte works with some of the largest/most progressive organizations on the most complex strategy projects.

DELOITTE SHINES IN ASSESSMENT,STRATEGY; ADVISORY BOARD IN IMPLEMENTATION WORK.

Deloitte provides the best leadership in helping shape providers’ strategies around value-based care. Advisory Board’s strength in implementation work comes from their successful customer-engagement methodology. Premier, xG Health, and PwC also have a good presence in implementation,receiving high marks for their ability to put structures in place (Premier), strong partnerships(xG Health), and methodology (PwC).

IN AN OVERALL STRONG MARKET, FIRMS DIFFERENTIATED BY THEIR AREAS OF FOCUS AND TANGIBLE PROJECT OUTCOMES.

Providers find that Premier, Advisory Board, Deloitte, and Accenture succeed in setting up value-based infrastructure, while Evolent and Deloitte are most recognized for delivering needed resources with expertise that healthcare organizations lack. For providing tools and technology, xG Health, Evolent and Premier make the biggest impact. xG Health and Evolent, along with PwC, are noted for their population health management outcomes.

EVOLVING MARKET INVITES NEW HEALTHCARE-SPECIFIC PLAYERS SUCH AS XG HEALTH AND EVOLENT

The growing ACO-consulting landscape attracts healthcare-specific firms with provider experience, such as xG Health and Evolent to compete with established cross-industry consulting firms such as Deloitte, PwC, and Accenture. Another player to make a mark in this field is Premier, who offers a similar provider membership model as Advisory Board. Although only 7 firms were measured in this study, 16 other firms were considered including Optum, Aetna, and McKinsey.

BOTTOM LINE ON VENDORS:

PREMIER:

Highest overall performance; has most projects and deep expertise around navigating providers through participation in government value-based programs. Unique ACO collaboratives allow provider members to share knowledge and expertise. Lowest average cost per engagement.

ADVISORY BOARD:

Second highest in overall performance. Providers view their physician knowledge as a particular strength. Top implementation performance around government value-based programs. Lowest performance in strategy work; only firm to have customers report consultant mistakes. Not chosen by some for ACO work due to under delivery in other engagements and overly aggressive marketing. 

DELOITTE CONSULTING:

Deep healthcare resources. Superb in guiding some of the most progressive clients and most complex projects in strategy-development work. Customers express most confidence in moving forward with created strategy/infrastructure. Highest rated value with significant up-front cost.  

XG HEALTH:

Image boosted by the expertise and funding received from Geisinger. Population health and PCMH implementation focus. most validated implementation projects with initial strong care-delivery results via analytics tools and expert resources. Lack of a broader view of population health and analytics outside of Geisinger contributed to lower performance compared to other firms. 

ACCENTURE HEALTH:

Had the largest CIN project in this study. Also helped providers with road maps and setting up governance structures. Overall preliminary score of 83.6 is lower than others in this report. Clients were pleased with ACO implementation work, but some were not as happy with assessment work, mentioning a lack consultant expertise or observed value. 

EVOLENT HEALTH: 

A newer player focused on helping systems transition to and operate in value-based care environments. Delivers strong operational support by providing implementation teams and ongoing value-based infrastructure across population health,financial and administrative, network, and technology (Identifi) resources. Credibility created via investment and experience from UPMC. One readiness assessment customer felt Evolent lacked an understanding of their local market.

PWC: 

Traditional management consulting firm. Highest score for early data firms; all clients engaged them for implementation work.Praised for their comprehensive approach,deep regulatory and clinical expertise.Perceived high value despite having one of highest average costs in this report.