Integration & Physician Issues

The American Medical Group Association has launched the ACO Development Collaborative, with 19 medical groups across the country participating, according to an AMGA news release.

Many hospitals are currently rushing to develop accountable care organizations, but physician involvement in the development and initial structuring of many of these networks has been minimal, says Mark F. Weiss, JD, a healthcare attorney with Advisory Law Group in…

The transition within the healthcare industry from a fee-for-service model to accountable care structures includes a fundamental shift in who manages risk. As we move toward accountable care models, risk transfers from health insurers to provider groups. This shift will…

Brian Silverstein, MD, senior vice president at The Camden Group, provides seven observations on accountable care organizations.

Academic medical centers, which are just beginning to embrace ambulatory surgery centers, face special challenges as they set up ASCs, according to Joan G. Dentler, president of ASC Strategies in Austin, Texas. Ms. Dentler recently assisted NYU Langone Medical Center…

Alignment and integration are the new buzz words. Accelerated by healthcare reform (patient demand and provider supply imbalance, reimbursement declines, quality requirements and technology pressures), the two operating models can address the amplified need for hospitals and physicians to forge…

In the race to put together integrated networks, hospitals and large multi-specialty groups are acquiring small medical practices and turning physicians into employees. The solo or small practice, run by a physician with entrepreneurial skills, is said to be dying…

As hospitals continue to acquire physician practices, they may have to contend with a rising phenomenon — for-profit organizations looking for practices in a certain specialty, according to Brian Scullion, MD, a principal in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at…

Robert C. Bohlmann, principal of MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, advises hospitals on integrating group practices. Here he lists six common complaints physicians have when their practices are acquired by a hospital.

Catholic Health Initiatives is taking a step toward accountable care organizations and integrating inpatient and outpatient healthcare with its recent purchase of a regional home healthcare company.