Here are a couple of definitions from Webster’s Online Dictionary:
Accountable 1: subject to giving an account : ANSWERABLE 2 : capable of being accounted for : EXPLAINABLE
Responsible 1a : liable to be called on to answer b (1) : liable to be called to account as the primary cause, motive or agent
With the advent of Accountable Care Organizations there will be an unfolding interplay between the accountable and the responsible. In the ACO model those accountable for the dollars spent or saved on health care will also be those responsible for care and health delivered. This is a good development and very well may reduce the cost of health care. I quipped in my last post that the next chapter in accountable care will be entitled “Patient, Heal Thyself!” As the story unfolds we will begin seeing providers, who are accountable to the government, in turn holding their patient’s more accountable for their own health, complete with rewards and penalties. At some point the onus for health and wellbeing must be obligatory for the individual. I conclude with a quote from Edmund Burke; “Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without.”
