Integration & Physician Issues

Physician-led Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Va., formed an accountable care organization with Hartford, Conn.-based health insurer Aetna in March 2011, and the partnership is saving money for people enrolled in the plan, according to a Roanoke Times report.

Camden, N.J.-based Lourdes Health System announced it is partnering with Sewell, N.J.-based Franklin Cardiovascular.

Two cardiology groups in Jacksonville, Fla. — Jacksonville Heart Center and the Southern Heart Group — have joined Baptist Health in Jacksonville and will form a specialty service known as Baptist Heart Specialists, according to a Florida Times-Union report.

One year after Harrisburg, Pa.-based Capital Blue Cross started an accountable care arrangement with providers, the health insurer says the new care model is working, and primary care physicians involved in the program are satisfied.

Under the Medicare Shared Savings Program, a Medicare ACO can receive payment for meeting quality metrics and reducing costs. If a Medicare ACO reduces its Medicare expenditures below a benchmark, it is eligible to receive part of the savings from…

Accountable care organizations could help physicians and researchers connect the dots when it comes to studying diseases and other public health concerns, writes David Bodycombe, PhD, an assistant scientist in the Health Services Research and Development Center at Johns Hopkins…

As healthcare moves into the next decade, new payment models like bundled and episodic payments, risk-sharing agreements, value-based payments and accountable care organizations are picking up momentum and changing the way reimbursement functions in the healthcare market. These new models…

Physicians signing contracts with hospitals should be careful not to fall into two "traps," according to healthcare attorney Steven Harris in a report in the American Medical Association's American Medical News.

Ashland (Kan.) Hospital Center decided to tackle the shortage of rural physicians in a creative way: It offers physicians eight weeks of paid time off to provide mission and humanitarian medical services to those in need, according to a report…

As healthcare insurers diversify and buy traditional business adversaries such as hospital consultants and physicians groups, serious independence and patient confidentiality concerns arise, according to a Kaiser Health News report.