Numerous discussions surrounding accountable care organizations, bundled payments and physician integration at the 12th Annual World Health Care Congress indicate the trends will likely accelerate as the industry continues to shift into value-based care, according to Igor Belokrinitsky.
Mr. Belokrinitsky — the vice president of Strategy& — attended the Congress held Washington, D.C., between March 22 and March 25.
"Based on my observations at the Congress, I think that the focus on physician integration is going to accelerate in terms of both buying physician groups and, more importantly, in taking an area of physician groups and trying to get them into one organization that has a consistently high standard of care and is integrated operationally and technologically," said Mr. Belokrinitsky.
One method of integration is using healthcare bundles to align physicians. Bundles allow healthcare organizations to reward physicians for following a standardized protocol without necessarily employing them, while still getting around Stark Law issues, according to Mr. Belokrinitsky.
He also predicts growth in models that focus on population health, like ACOs, and other hybrid models that use some aspects of ACOs and bundled payments.
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