As reimbursements continue to decline, physicians may look to hospitals for financial support beyond the compensation they receive for clinical services. According to Wayne Miller, JD, of Compliance Law Group, hospitals and physicians considering financial support arrangements "always have to…

CMS will hold a public meeting Dec. 3 on the Community-Based Care Transitions Program, a five-year pilot program available to hospitals with high readmission rates, according to AHA News Now.

As healthcare reimbursement moves away from a fee-for-service environment, many hospitals are considering entering into bundled contracts with insurers, physicians and/or other providers. Bundled contracts take many forms but generally pay an entity a fixed or capitated amount in return…

As hospitals gear up for accountable care organizations, independent physicians are "a hot commodity," says Mary C. Reed, vice president of Gateway Health in Cleveland. Ms. Reed, who is helping a number of organizations create ACOs, says non-employed physicians, who…

For a hospital starting an accountable care organization, working with physicians is crucial to success, but it takes a great deal of time and effort to have a successful working relationship with physicians, according to Nancy J. Ham, president &…

Nancy J. Ham, president & CEO of MedVentive in Waltham, Mass., has more than 10 years experience preparing hospitals to launch ventures coordinating care with physicians and other providers. Lately much of her time is taken up with helping hospitals…

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes a provision to begin a national pilot on payment bundling, which is essentially an expansion of CMS's ongoing Acute Care Episodes Demonstration project. The pilot is scheduled to launch by Jan. 2013.…

Mark Weiss, JD, a healthcare attorney with Advisory Law Group in Los Angeles, discusses four ways physician groups can increase their earning potential and gain leverage in negotiations with hospitals and the development of ACOs.

The Federation of American Hospitals answered 10 questions posed by the Federal Trade Commission, as the agency ponders how it will handle antitrust enforcement of accountable care organizations, according to a federation letter to the FTC, CMS and the Inspector…

Hospital admissions for the effects for prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and illicit drugs more than doubled from 1997-2008 for patients age 45 and older, according to a release by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.