Integration & Physician Issues

Physicians are conflicted about their role in making recommendations regarding the competency of patients to carry a concealed weapon and the impact that role may have on patient-physician relationships, according to survey results published in The New England Journal of…

Physicians who are employed and have never worked in private practice are more likely satisfied (49 percent) than dissatisfied (37 percent) with their careers, according to a Jackson Healthcare survey.

The increasing employment of physicians by hospitals and health systems has heightened the importance of understanding physician employment contracts for providers. Below are a few areas of importance in every physician employment agreement.

Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Complete Orthopaedic Care has announced they will integrate into Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Medical Group — one of the largest medical groups in the state, effective June 30.

The Federation of State Medical Boards has launched its new redesigned website at www.fsmb.org, according to an article in Newswise.

In a recent report by Alpharetta, Ga.-based Jackson Healthcare, physicians whose income decreased in the past year, 61 percent would not encourage a career in the medical field.

Only one black student walked across the stage to receive a degree from the Columbia-based University of Missouri School of Medicine this year, and only three are expected to graduate next year, according to an article in the Missourian.

Hospitals are increasingly partnering with federal and private payers in risk-based contracting to improve cost efficiencies, according to a survey of hospital executives.

Healthways, headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., and Genesis Physician Group of Dallas have partnered to form GenHealth, a health services organization designed to support independent physicians with a population health management infrastructure.

Nearly half — 44 percent — of rural areas in the United States are experiencing a shortage of primary care practitioners, according to a panel of physicians at Rural Health Journalism 2014 covered by the Association of Health Care Journalists.