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HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | DECEMBER 5, 2022 13 What is the difference between a CIN and an Accountable Care Organization ("ACO")? An ACO is an organization of providers (including physicians and hospitals) that agree to work together to be accountable for the quality, cost, and overall care of health plan participants who are enrolled and assigned to the ACO. When providers en- ter into an ACO arrangement (generally a written contract), the providers' payments are tied to care outcomes and the ability to efficiently deliver care. To accomplish these purposes, the ACO will collaborate towards these aims. Examples of collaboration include strategies to standardize clinical protocols, meet quality targets, coordinate care within the ACO, and increase patient engagement. An ACO generally covers a subset of a health plan's beneficiaries. Commercial payers, Medicare and Medic- aid, can have their plan participants covered by an ACO. Like an ACO, a CIN is an organization of providers working to demonstrate value by improving quality and reducing the cost of care for their patients. However, the CIN serves as the legal foundation on which to build a variety of different arrangements, including ACOs. In a CIN, providers actively work together and depend on each other to ensure quality and control costs across all payer arrangements. CIN participants undertake sig- nificant activities together designed to achieve specified goals, often investing in shared infrastructure and being held account- able for specific, shared measures to help determine whether the initiatives are working. What is Population Health? Defined as the health outcomes of a group of individuals, in- cluding the distribution of such outcomes within the group. The management of the population is the iterative process of stra- tegically and proactively managing clinical and financial oppor- tunities to improve health outcomes and patient engagement while reducing costs. What is a CIN? Defined as a collection of health providers (e.g. physicians, hospitals, and post-acute providers) that join together to improve care and reduce costs. As a CIN, SoNE HEALTH works in partner ship with our member providers and the hospital partners of Trinity Health Of New England to align incentives to provide a supportive infrastructure for quality im- provement and the efficient and effective delivery of healthcare services. SPONSORED CONTENT sonehealthcare.com