At the National Health Service (NHS) Confederation in June, NHS Chief Executive Simon Stevens confirmed that eight accountable care systems (ACSs) will be formed to increase care coordination in what he called a “fractured” health and social care system. With greater control over funding and more freedom to decide how their local health system operates, the first ACSs will work to reduce strain on emergency departments, invest in general practice, and increase access to high-quality mental health and cancer services, in accordance with the NHS’s Next Steps on the Five Year Forward View.
NHS Improvement CEO Jim Mackey also spoke at the meeting, where he addressed the legality of ACSs and accountable care organizations. Mackey said he thinks it is possible to get “90 percent of the way there” within the existing legislative framework, but would like to see an agreed-upon model that is “legally signed off and stamped.”