on May 31, 2011 |
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Topics: Clinical Integration, Hospital-Physician Alignment, Physician Issues, Strategy Development, Planning, Strategy, Strategy Implementation
Sarah O'Hara, Health Care Advisory Board
Across the country, interest in Clinical Integration (CI) seems to build almost daily. Take readership of this blog as just one indicator: across the last couple months, we've added 10-20 members per week. But interest in CI as a concept and actively deciding it's the right strategy for your organization are two separate things. Over the next few weeks, we'll be taking a closer look at this decision-making process through a series of blog posts, offering guidance on how to assess the potential costs, challenges, and returns associated with CI; how to begin planning a robust CI program; and how to explain your interest in--and decision to pursue--CI to key stakeholders, such as your medical staff and your board.
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We're interested in CI--now what? Tips for CI strategy assessment and launch planning
on May 16, 2011 |
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Topics: Clinical Integration, Hospital-Physician Alignment, Physician Issues, Payer and Regulatory Policy, Market Trends, Strategy, Accountable Care
Sarah O'Hara, Health Care Advisory Board
How do attorneys and providers with experience in Clinical Integration (CI) feel about the new antitrust policy for accountable care organizations (ACOs)? A forum convened by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last Monday offered an early glimpse. Expert panelists--representing law firms, clinically integrated health systems, payers, employers, and consumers--seemed in general consensus that the policy statement represents a step in the right direction, but raised concerns that it poses too high a data collection burden on providers, while also overlooking market power issues associated with ACOs built through hospital employment of physicians. This post offers a recap of the forum and thoughts about what the feedback might mean as the antitrust policy moves from proposed to final.
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Reaction to the ACO Antitrust Policy: Report from last week's FTC forum
on May 3, 2011 |
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Topics: Clinical Integration, Hospital-Physician Alignment, Physician Issues, Information Technology
Sarah O'Hara, Health Care Advisory Board
For organizations pursuing a clinical integration (CI) strategy with physicians, data is fundamental. Without a robust information technology (IT) infrastructure to manage, organize, and disseminate data, CI programs would have no way to identify opportunities for quality improvement, monitor physician performance against those goals, prove program value to payer partners, and ultimately, effect positive change in patient outcomes. IT is truly at the core of CI program success. Yet for many CI programs, IT infrastructure is a black box, with even basic questions--Should we require our physicians to have an electronic medical record (EMR)? How should we set up a disease registry?--a source of confusion in program development.
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What IT tools are right for CI?
