Final answer:
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are systems for coordinating health care for Medicare patients, focused on providing high-quality, efficient care and reducing unnecessary services.
Step-by-step explanation:
The system of coordinated health care institutions for Medicare patients developed by the Department of Health and Human Services is known as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). These organizations are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high-quality care to their Medicare patients. The aim is to ensure that patients, especially the chronically ill, get the right care at the right time, while avoiding unnecessary duplication of services and preventing medical errors. This contrasts with traditional fee-for-service health financing systems, where medical care providers receive reimbursement according to the cost of services they provide. ACOs are part of an initiative to help facilitate a shift from a health care system that rewards quantity of services to one that values quality and efficiency.