Hospital/physician relations
Physician engagement results in better patient care, more accurate reimbursement and more. Here are some tips for engaging with your physicians.
Medicare's ACOs have had mixed early outcomes, but some commercial accountable care ventures, including PPO plans, are showing promise.
A new study provides even more evidence that physician leadership is the key to success with accountable care organizations. Strong focus on patient needs is a key driver of success, but physician-led ACOs typically struggle with the care coordination piece.
New research suggests that accountable care organizations should make payments to patient-centered medical homes or take other steps to support them financially, since their goals are similarly transformative.
Medicare's accountable care organizations have gotten off to a mixed start, with hospital-led ACOs especially reporting financial challenges. By contrast, physician-led ACOs may have built-in advantages, and could be a new source of competition.
The increased dependence on non-physician providers raises important questions for hiring managers at healthcare organizations. How to best utilize non-physician providers? Which roles are ideal -- e.g., nurse practitioners or PAs? And what are the financial and operational benefits?
Hospital ownership of physician practices appears to lead to statistically and economically significant increases in hospital prices and spending, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs. But that doesn't mean providers should retreat from integration and tighter alignment.
If global spending becomes the norm in Medicaid, health systems, medical practices, home health and community organizations will face an even greater impetus to collaborate. In the Empire State, some are already starting the journey.
Powerful social forces will drive the healthcare industry to innovate, overcoming institutional and political inertia, says healthcare consultant and futurist Ian Morrison. But things may not get 'serious' until 2018.
Americans are paying higher prices for cancer drugs because more patients are being treated by oncologists whose practices have been bought by hospitals, which may charge double or more for the same treatments, according to a new report.