The Veralon Views blog is an extension of our partnership with leaders who are transforming the healthcare industry. Here, we share expert perspectives from our nationally recognized senior consulting team on issues that are key to the success of your organization.
You want to reduce physician subsidies in your employed physician enterprise, and you have numerous initiatives to increase physician engagement under way. What matters, however, is not the number of physician engagement efforts, but how thoroughly they engage physicians in operations at the ground level. Veralon recently surveyed leadership at 30 physician enterprises with 11,000 […]
Physicians who generate significant income from procedural or technical/ancillary components of their practice have understandable concerns that an employment relationship with a health system or hospital will not be financially attractive. They realize that employment could mean losing the income from their usually profitable procedures and technical components, and so are uninterested in having their […]
Experts already predict another record-breaking year for private equity investment in physician practices, with 45 deals announced or closed in Q1 2019 alone. As private equity interest in ophthalmology and dermatology stays hot, and as other specialties capture investors’ attention and dollars, some health system leaders are offering an alternative to private equity capital by […]
Many conversations we have with hospital and health system executives about market growth strategies eventually turns to the topic of micro-hospitals — and for good reason. These facilities typically include a small-scale emergency department (ED), low-acuity surgery, and are often comprised of eight to 10 inpatient beds as well as additional observation beds (notably, these […]
The move toward value-based contracts is happening “in small doses,” a 2018 MGMA survey found. While nearly three out of five hospitals participate in value-based contracts, just 34 percent of healthcare reimbursement is tied to value. This presents healthcare leaders with a dilemma: How can we engage physicians in value-based payment models when so little […]
The use of CPT code modifiers to adjust work relative value units (wRVUs) under physician compensation models has become a universal practice among hospitals and health systems that employ physicians—and with good reason. The risks of not applying CPT code modifiers—such as an inability to objectively measure performance—are significant. Why should healthcare organizations that employ […]
Medical staff development planning requires analytic rigor and detailed work. There is no way around it; a multi-hospital health system needs to determine the needs of each of its individual hospitals, as well as the system in the aggregate, in a consistent manner. Health systems can realize resource efficiencies and strategic benefits by addressing medical […]
Although a determination of fair market value (FMV) depends on the relevant facts and circumstances related to a particular arrangement, reasonable compensation is generally defined as the level of compensation that is consistent with the amount that would be paid by like organizations for comparable services under similar circumstances. Physicians who provide administrative services must […]
If your employed physician enterprise is like most, you are experiencing calculated losses of $100,000 to $200,000 per physician, and the losses are likely increasingly intolerable. The figures for physician losses, as currently determined, certainly grab attention, and as a financial indicator are very important. However, those figures do not provide much in the way […]
CMS has opened applications for a second cohort of BPCI Advanced (Bundled Payment for Care Improvement-Advanced) participants in April. This initial application step gets you valuable data, and time to decide whether to pursue participation. Advantages of applying include: No obligation to participate. You have time (likely until fall 2019) to decide whether to sign […]