February 9th, 2011 by KevinMD in Health Policy, Opinion
No Comments »
Health reformers propose the proliferation of integrated health systems, like the Mayo Clinic or Kaiser Permanente, which, according to the Dartmouth Atlas, lead to better patient care and improved cost control.
To that end, accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been a major part of health reform, changing the way healthcare is delivered. Never mind that patients may not be receptive to the new model, but the creation of these large, integrated physician-hospital entities that progressive policy experts espouse comes with repercussions. Monopoly power.
To prepare for the new model of healthcare delivery, physician practices have been consolidating. In many cases, they’re being bought by hospitals. Last year, I wrote how this is leading to the death of the private practice physician.
But with consolidation comes a tilt in market power. Health insurers, desperate to control costs, are finding it more difficult to negotiate with hospital-physician practices that dominate a market. And patients are going to side with the hospital — insurers that leave out popular doctors and medical facilities face a backlash from patients. Witness the power that Partners Healthcare has in the Boston market that’s mostly driven by patient demand for big-reputation, high-cost Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
June 29th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, True Stories
No Comments »
As doctors increasingly become physician-employees, there’s no longer a need to share resources with university specialists:
Three University of Virginia cardiologists have been told by the Augusta Health board they will lose their hospital privileges next week, impacting the 2,500 patients the doctors serve.
Augusta Health officials [Crow] told the doctors in a letter that they won’t be able to treat their patients in emergencies or otherwise at the hospital in Fishersville. Crow’s statement said the board is limiting cardiology department participation to doctors “under contract to Augusta Health.”
Augusta Health has four cardiologists on staff, and will soon have a fifth, he said. Limiting cardiology participation to the hospital’s own doctors will allow Augusta Health “to build a strong and financially viable community-based cardiology program,” Crow said.
Universities have a long history of exporting their clinical expertise in the hopes of capturing more complicated surgical cases from their imbedded specialists. With more and more health systems consolidating (note the 3-for-1 swap above), the days of collaboration and shared resources between health systems are ending and patients are finding access to doctors more challenging.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
