Integration & Physician Issues

Aetna and Baylor Quality Alliance, Dallas-based Baylor Health Care System's accountable care organization, have signed a coordinated care agreement.

In a survey released earlier this year by Merritt Hawkins for The Physicians Foundation, many physicians expressed that they would be reluctant to participate in an accountable care organization. In fact, less than 10 percent of the surveyed physicians believed…

Highmark has released results of its Quality Blue hospital and physician pay-for-performance program that show reduced cost and improved quality of care provided by participating hospitals and physicians.

Twelve physicians from Boca Raton (Fla.) Regional Hospital have signed a collaborative care agreement with Aetna's Medicare Advantage, according to a report by the South Florida Business Journal.

Sonia Mehta, MD, who recently became CEO of Loretto Hospital in Chicago, aims to expand outpatient services and relationships with both employed and independent physicians, according to a Crain's Chicago Business report.

Colorado Medicaid's Accountable Care Collaborative, established in May 2011, reported reduced hospital readmissions and improved patient outcomes in its November agency report.

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado has selected six physician groups to participate in its Blue Priority network, which features "unprecedented information sharing" between the insurer and providers.

In many ways, the hospital industry suffers from a hangover of the 1990s, when hospitals aligned with physicians in physician-hospital organizations and management services organizations.

A recent study by Merritt Hawkins, on behalf of the Physicians Foundation, shows that female physicians are more optimistic about the future of healthcare than their male counterparts.

A new study by Rand shows that physicians with the least amount of experience spend significantly more money treating patients than physicians with more experience.