Blair G. Childs, senior vice president for public policy at Premier healthcare alliance, explains how Premier's new accountable care collaboratives are helping health systems to get ready to launch accountable care organizations.
Integration & Physician Issues
As budgets get tighter and quality measures get stricter, hospitals must find ways to align physicians with the goals of their organization. Linda Efferen, MD, chief medical officer at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, N.Y., shares five ways to…
The economic challenges of the past decade have placed hospitals under unrelenting pressures to reduce costs while maintaining quality. With most of the stray dollars already found, any further cost cutting initiatives will likely bring with them the danger of…
The recent increase in hospital employment and strategic affiliations with physicians can be beneficial to the hospitals with these relationships with physicians. However, other hospitals may suffer as a result of these arrangements. Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.,…
As the field of hospital medicine grows and more hospitals implement hospitalist programs, critics wonder whether hospital medicine will hurt quality of care or draw medical students away from primary care. Here Jeff Wiese, MD, president of the Society of…
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HHS personnel are currently busy drafting regulations for accountable care organizations, based on just a few paragraphs of language in the healthcare reform law. Groups representing hospitals, practices and other providers creating ACOs have been offering HHS their suggestions for…
Katherine Schneider, MD, vice president of health engagement at AtlantiCare in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., discusses her health system's role in Premier's new Accountable Care Collaborative, announced in May. The health system consists of AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, a 567-bed…
A recent survey by cardiology service and information provider MedAxiom found that cardiologists are increasingly choosing to integrate with hospitals in response to fee cuts and tighter regulations for private practices. Five months ago, 15 percent of cardiologists surveyed had…
Vanguard Health Systems has completed its $6.1 million acquisition of bankrupt Phoenix-based Arizona Heart Institute, according to an Arizona Republic report.
New Hampshire Governor John Lynch has announced a pilot program that will compensate healthcare providers in the state who are part of accountable care organizations for their quality of care versus the typical fee-for-service model, according to a report by…