The clinically integrated network is a key building block for the accountable care organization, an upcoming piece in the healthcare reform law that will bring together hospitals, physicians and other caregivers to deliver the full scope of care for each…

Southeast Medical Center, a primary care practice with seven locations based in Oakes, N.D., has officially merged with Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health-MeritCare, according to a MeritCare news release.

Arizona has become the 19th state to reject a federal invitation to set up a high-risk pool to cover patients with pre-existing medical conditions under health reform, according to a report by the Arizona Republic.

Sen. Dean Florez (D-Calif.) plans to introduce a bill aimed at preventing City of Hope cancer hospital in Duarte, Calif., from severing ties with California Cancer Specialists Medical Group and forming a foundation to employ other physicians, according to a…

While the care and feeding of hospital-based physicians is not a new topic, there are some new trends and strategies for this group, which includes anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists, emergency physicians and hospitalists. Here are six of those trends.

Physicians on staff can throw their hospital into the red or the black entirely by the way they handle clinical orders, physician preference items and other issues, says Nick Sears, MD, CMO of MedAssets in Alpharetta, Ga., which provides software…

Chris Rivard, health care services chair at Moss Adams, an accounting firm headquartered in Seattle, has a front-row seat to a practice-acquisition war heating up among hospitals in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. At least six practices in…

Medical practice managers struggle with the day-to-day challenges of rising operating costs, uncertainty about Medicare reimbursement rates and selecting and implementing an EHR, according to the third annual MGMA report "Medical Practice Today: What Members Have to Say."

Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon, Wash., acquired the Skagit Valley Medical Center, an 81-physician medical group, also in Mount Vernon, this week in a $17.4 million deal, according to a report by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Physician-owned enterprises — such as ASCs, imaging centers and practices — are now losing ground to hospitals due to the financial crisis of the past two to three years, according to James Unland, president of the Chicago-based Health Capital Group…