The health reform bill will offer incentives, in the form of funding and pilot programs, for hospitals and doctors to change their payment models from fee-for-service programs to models that reward quality of care and efficiency. The accountable care organization model will reward specialists, hospitalists and primary care providers for partnering to improve patient outcome and keep populations healthy.
Because ACOs require a strong financial base to implement, physicians who want to take part often need to partner with hospitals. Critics say physician groups and hospitals are partnering too quickly without a proper understanding of how the new medical teams will work.
Read the Texas Tribune report on physician and hospital partnerships.
Read more on hospital-physician relationships:
–5 Ways to Improve Hospital-Physician Alignment
–The Role of Physician-Directed Best Practices in Creating Successful Accountable Care Organizations
