Encouraging competition and cooperation: The Affordable Care Act's contradiction?

Abstract

This introductory essay to JHPPL's special issue on accountable care organizations (ACOs) presents the broader themes addressed in the issue, including (1) a central tension between cooperation versus competition in health care markets with regard to how to bring about improved quality, lower costs, and better access; (2) US regulatory policy-whether it will be able to achieve the appropriate balance in health care markets under which ACOs could realize expected outcomes; and (3) ACO realities-whetherACOs will be able to overcome or further embed existing inequities in US health care markets.