About Us

Used in Over 20 Countries, Impacting Over 200 Million Lives

The ACG® System has been used in commercial and research settings worldwide, longer and more extensively than any other system on the market today. The software component is tried and true, continuously undergoing improvements and modifications in response to user needs.

Backed by Johns Hopkins University

The ACG System continues to evolve through research and development conducted at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a world renowned institution. Over the past 30 years, the ACG System has been maintained and supported by dedicated Johns Hopkins faculty and staff in medicine, biostatistics and health economics. Johns Hopkins University also offers support services by academic professionals to ensure appropriate implementation of the ACG System as well as accurate interpretation of the results.

Our Commitment to Generating and Sharing Knowledge

Users of the ACG System have access to a community of interest and access to case studies from around the world. The ACG System Bibliography contains close to 1,000 published articles and reports from around the globe demonstrating its robustness in varying health care system contexts.

Supporting Users to Improve Patient Outcomes

We support users of the ACG System to ensure they are able to maximize the potential of the System. We also work closely with users to ensure they can accurately interpret the outputs of the System and align the data with their business and clinical objectives.

The ACG System Team

In addition to the staff at Johns Hopkins University who support our R&D work, there is a team of population health experts, data scientists and others who contribute to the development of the ACG System and support users from across the globe.

Meet Our Team

The Johns Hopkins ACG® System was developed and continues to be validated and improved by experts at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Center for Population Health IT). The diverse ACG System team is comprised of Johns Hopkins faculty and staff including clinicians, health services researchers and Health Information Technology experts. Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions is comprised of experts in population health as well as business, marketing and product development. Together, we develop, maintain and offer the ACG System to commercial health plans, governments, health systems, large employers and researchers worldwide.

Remembering Barbara Starfield

barbaraJohns Hopkins University Distinguished Professor Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H., was recognized world-wide as an expert in primary care, casemix methodologies and promotion of equity in health. One of her profound insights was that systems of care organized around individual diseases were not optimally beneficial to patients, especially those who are chronically ill. Her defining work with patterns of morbidity forms the basis of the ACG System, which she co-developed.

Research by Prof. Starfield and her colleagues in the early 1980s showed that children using the most health care resources were not those affected by single chronic illnesses, but rather they had multiple, seemingly unrelated conditions. Prof. Starfield was able to extend these findings to all ages of patients and ultimately demonstrate that the clustering of morbidity is a better predictor of health services resource use than the presence of specific diseases.

Focusing on the patterns of morbidity forms the basis of the current ACG System and remains the fundamental concept that differentiates the ACG System from other casemix adjustment methodologies.

When Prof. Starfield passed away in 2011, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health established the Barbara Starfield Scholarship Fund to support doctoral students who pursue study and research that continue Dr. Starfield’s primary areas of focus. In continuing to honor her legacy, the ACG System Team instituted the Starfield Award.

  • About the Starfield Award. LEARN MORE
  • Read more about Dr. Starfield’s life and career. LEARN MORE
  • View Dr. Starfield’s Wikipedia page. LEARN MORE
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