• The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is an organization created under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). ACOs offer healthcare providers financial incentives to work together to better coordinate services for patient groups and thereby improve quality of care while reducing costs. Another focus of the ACO is to help reduce readmission rates for certain conditions such as heart attack/heart failure and pneumonia. An ACO may include primary care physicians, medical specialists, hospitals, or other health care providers. Under the provisions of the ACA that created the ACO, if the ACO achieves certain quality targets, the resulting savings are shared among the various suppliers that are part of the ACO.