Independent physician practices took a financial beating during the first months of COVID-19—and not just due to postponement of elective procedures. Today, consumers remain fearful of returning to a physician office environment, with office visits down 20 to 30 percent compared with pre-COVID levels. Now, many of these practices are coming to hospitals to make […]
As hospitals rethink their approach to care delivery during the pandemic, many also are weighing whether partnership is needed. Now is a good time for leaders to consider: What would make an ideal partner? Even as hospitals face extreme financial pressure following COVID-19, some independents are finding that their financial standing may not be as […]
Prior to the pandemic, we learned something quite surprising. In a Veralon survey, only 42% of respondents viewed the financial losses on employed physician enterprises as “unacceptable” or a “major priority.” Perhaps “surprising” is too tame a description. We were “shocked.” At the time of our survey, the level of losses typically varied between $150,000-$200,000 […]
It is the opportune time to build relationships with independent physicians. As always, one answer does not fit all so leadership needs to assess each individual physician and the appropriate models with care and attention. After more than two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation for many independent practices remains shaky. Practices are struggling […]
Physician compensation plans have generally been designed to meet specific health system objectives including: Optimizing recruitment and retention Aligning physician financial incentives with organization goals around quality, productivity, citizenship Promoting consistency and equity among physicians Most compensation models reflect expectations with respect to production, quality, and time worked, and target expected levels of compensation based […]
Many physicians, and other clinicians, are working harder than perhaps they ever have under extraordinary conditions, as COVID-19 surges through our communities. While those conditions will improve as the initial surge subsides, physician practices, both independent and employed, will need to change to respond to the consequences of that surge, and the potential for secondary […]
Fifteen years ago, the move toward adding stress testing, nuclear testing, and more to cardiology practices’ in-office offerings began to pick up speed as physicians realized they could increase practice revenue by as much as 15 percent by adding ancillary services. While reimbursement for many cardiac diagnostic services was significantly reduced in 2010, income from […]
What is the Primary Care First Program (PCF)? PCF is a voluntary 5-year CMS Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) with two care models—one for “Advanced” primary care and one for high-need, seriously ill Medicare beneficiaries (Seriously Ill Population, or SIP). The latter is aimed primarily at providers who typically provide hospice or palliative services. Practices […]
If your ambulatory network is the only provider in town, and it is providing high-quality services at reasonable rates that meet the community’s needs, those characteristics will likely position your organization for success. But what happens when your organization is surrounded by competitors (including some of the new entrants) fighting for market share? How do […]
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 […]