Accountable care organizations may still be clouded with uncertainty, but one facet of the model is becoming clearer: redefined relationships between hospitals and physicians. Shifting from the tense environment of the 1990s, hospitals and physicians are now looking to one…
Integration & Physician Issues
Massachusetts would encourage healthcare providers to form accountable care organizations under a new cost-containment plan proposed by Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, according to a report by the American Medical News.
Atrius Health in Newton, Mass., which has functioned like an accountable care organization for several decades, offered some pointers on ACO operations in a report in the Wall Street Journal. An alliance of five medical groups with more than 800…
More than 30 Arizona employers have joined a patient-centered medical home program that UnitedHealthcare and IBM introduced in 2009, according to a release from UnitedHealthcare. The Arizona program currently includes seven medical practices and 25 physicians in Phoenix and Tucson,…
Powell Valley (Wyo.) Healthcare CEO Paul Cardwell said the hospital is "well on the way" toward its goal of recruiting eight to 10 new physicians within the next six months, according to a Powell Tribune news report.
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Citing improved quality and lower costs at two existing accountable care organization pilots, Cigna plans to more than double its ACO pilots this year, according to a Cigna release.
The majority of current efforts to build accountable care organizations are being initiated by hospitals. Sidney S. Welch, JD, attorney at Arnall Golden Gregory and chair of the American Bar Association's Physician Issues Interest Group, says that although hospitals are…
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente is spending at least $500 million and hiring hundreds of physicians to expand its reach to the East Coast, according to a Nashville Business Journal report. The non-profit’s mid-Atlantic division is building four clinics in Virginia,…
Reductions in ASC Private Reimbursements and Flat Revenue Drives New Surgeon and Hospital Alignments
The following article is written by Jeffrey Simmons, chief development officer for Regent Surgical Health. Reductions in private reimbursements at ASCs and "flat" earnings in revenue are a main cause for new surgeon and hospital alignments It is no secret…
Accountable care organizations may create financial losses for the first three years, according to a report published in New England Journal of Medicine.