The success of physician integration may be the "tipping point" for the development of an accountable care organization, says Michael McKenna, MD, VP of Medical Management at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill.
"An ACO is a mechanism by which you can deliver care and the only way it will be effective is to have the hospital and physicians aligned to provide the best outcomes for its patients. If you don't have alignment, it's going to be very hard to become an effective ACO," he says.
For the past 15 years, Lutheran General has been working on a physician integration strategy through Advocate Physician Partners, an organization jointly owned by Advocate and physicians that aligns physicians with hospitals. According to Dr. McKenna, the last five years in particular have shown yearly improvements in physicians' performance.
"This has led to improvement in our community's health and also to improvement in the financial health of both the physicians and the partner hospitals," he says.
Quantifying success
In the midst of uncertainty and a lack of definitions regarding ACOs, Lutheran General and APP have created measures to improve outcomes, which have led to great success in their physician integration program.
At the beginning of the year Lutheran General and Advocate Physician Partners set standards by which physicians will be measured. There are over 140 measures related to clinical integration, but each individual physician is accountable for only a portion of these measures, depending on his or her specialty.
The performance on these measures is then scored, which provides several benefits, including:
1. An evaluation of physician alignment with hospital goals
2. A method for distributing incentives earned through clinical integration
3. An effective tool for communication between the physician and APP, leading to improved outcomes
Dr. McKenna attributes part of the success of Lutheran General's physician integration program to this creation of "accountability systems with measures that we are constantly feeding back to physicians that describe their performance. At the end of the year, their share of the incentives is determined by their clinical score."
He suggests that both physician and hospital leaders jointly decide the distribution of payment for physician incentives. Giving physicians an equal part in this decision builds trust between the physicians and hospital, a key to successful physician integration.
Dr. McKenna adds, "Too many hospitals or systems now think the solution is employment of physicians; to be effective in today's environment, organizations need to be able to deal with different physician practice platforms."
Advocate Physician Partners has helped Lutheran General partner successfully with both independent and employed physicians.
Learn more about Advocate Physician Partners.
"An ACO is a mechanism by which you can deliver care and the only way it will be effective is to have the hospital and physicians aligned to provide the best outcomes for its patients. If you don't have alignment, it's going to be very hard to become an effective ACO," he says.
For the past 15 years, Lutheran General has been working on a physician integration strategy through Advocate Physician Partners, an organization jointly owned by Advocate and physicians that aligns physicians with hospitals. According to Dr. McKenna, the last five years in particular have shown yearly improvements in physicians' performance.
"This has led to improvement in our community's health and also to improvement in the financial health of both the physicians and the partner hospitals," he says.
Quantifying success
In the midst of uncertainty and a lack of definitions regarding ACOs, Lutheran General and APP have created measures to improve outcomes, which have led to great success in their physician integration program.
At the beginning of the year Lutheran General and Advocate Physician Partners set standards by which physicians will be measured. There are over 140 measures related to clinical integration, but each individual physician is accountable for only a portion of these measures, depending on his or her specialty.
The performance on these measures is then scored, which provides several benefits, including:
1. An evaluation of physician alignment with hospital goals
2. A method for distributing incentives earned through clinical integration
3. An effective tool for communication between the physician and APP, leading to improved outcomes
Dr. McKenna attributes part of the success of Lutheran General's physician integration program to this creation of "accountability systems with measures that we are constantly feeding back to physicians that describe their performance. At the end of the year, their share of the incentives is determined by their clinical score."
He suggests that both physician and hospital leaders jointly decide the distribution of payment for physician incentives. Giving physicians an equal part in this decision builds trust between the physicians and hospital, a key to successful physician integration.
Dr. McKenna adds, "Too many hospitals or systems now think the solution is employment of physicians; to be effective in today's environment, organizations need to be able to deal with different physician practice platforms."
Advocate Physician Partners has helped Lutheran General partner successfully with both independent and employed physicians.
Learn more about Advocate Physician Partners.