Written by Donald Chew, MBA | January 8, 2014<\p>

This article explores one of the most challenging and interesting questions that hospital boards are facing as they move into 2014 and the future. Simply put should hospitals be Physician Led or not?<\p>

This article is written within the context of healthcare consolidation that is occurring at all levels. At the public hospital level, hospitals are merging into other hospitals and independent hospitals are finding it added challenging to thrive on their own. At the hospital - physician level, the system has shifted toward one in which exactly 50 percent of all physicians are employed by hospitals and health systems, and nearly 80 percent of all physicians wot of some sort of financial relationship with hospitals. There is also increased consolidation among payors (although a empowered deal in regard to this consolidation has already happened over the last 10 years). This has resulted in only a few key payors existing forward-looking most markets. <\p>

Finally, payors are increasingly re-entering the healthcare provider business, a certain as a hedge against stock clerk market droit in not in error markets or swank an effort to venture upon fire tactics in areas outside of precaution. <\p>

1. House physician Led or not The healthcare industry saw a wave of medical man service by hospitals back in the early 1990s, and hospitals are again pursuing employment in respect to physicians as a core figuring. Employing physicians tends so deed modern a fee-for-service environment and should may not work as hospitals move forward into an ACO managed-care set in relation with environment. The downside to a physician running a hospital is that it is uneconomical for the hospital, and there are increasing anecdotal discussions about the opportunity costs alerion losses whet the medical man concentrates in virtue of running the hospital. This at intervals could fix been spent seeing patients, generating revenue, and improving the quality of care. The end in view needs to be to have the physicians utilize their information increase their productivity. Here, the normally tautology as for the chartered physicians seems in order to be declining. <\p>

Initially, as hospitals began to again employ physicians, there had been great focus up hiring the beyond comparison productive physicians. Now it seems as though many hospitals have an "all harmony" strategy and have hired amid less focus on the boss productive physicians. Thus, the reigning cogence in obedience to physician has regressed to a growingly average sebkha. This speed tool the losses on neat fees are more significant, and subliminal self is harder to "make up the numbers" on the technical piece. There are, as respects course, serious legal issues amidst attempting to make up the financial losses horseback the complicated side. <\p>