Health System

The merger wave sweeping up Massachusetts hospitals and doctors threatens to increase health care prices and widen the payment gap between providers, according to warnings from industry leaders, health insurers, and regulators at a hearing Wednesday.

Optimizing the length of stay at a hospital is critical to patient health outcomes, and more importantly, controlling healthcare costs.

Seven systems that include 25 hospitals in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania have formed an alliance to build expertise in population health management and capitalize on economies of scale without the complications of merging assets.

Access to affordable, quality healthcare for poor Americans varies dramatically among the states, according to a new study that found a wide disparity in measures of health between states with the best healthcare systems and those with the worst.

Patrick Courneya, MD, CHIE, health plan medical director, HealthPartners, Inc, says that his organization sees a wide variety of models in Minnesota.

When it comes to controlling healthcare costs, only 36% of physicians agree that practicing physicians have a major responsibility to participate in cost containment, according to a recent study.

Adhering to the best practices in cancer care may be the answer many oncologists have been looking for, at least according to one hospital's findings.

Robert Williams, MD, director, Deloitte, Consulting LLP, says physician integration is driven predominantly by the department of justice, and FTC regulations that require physicians to meet the definition of clinical integration.

Hospitals across the nation are being swept up in the biggest wave of mergers since the 1990s, a development that is creating giant hospital systems that could one day dominate American health care and drive up costs.

According to Douglas Chaet, Senior Vice President, Independence Blue Cross, incentives for providers in accountable care organizations (ACOs) should stem from wanting to get an edge on the competition.

Peter Cunningham, PhD, Senior Fellow and Director of Quantitative Research, Center for Studying Health System Change, says that the expansion of people gaining coverage will be a big challenge for primary care delivery systems.