Business
VHA probes hospital strategies
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 15, 2004
Hospitals are coming up with many different strategies to protect their revenues from physician-owned specialty hospitals, according to a report by the Irving, Texas-based health care cooperative VHA. Strategies range from collaborating with physicians to putting up barriers, such as revoking admitting privileges for doctors who invest in a competing facility, according to the VHA report.
The response could vary depending on the physician group's market share and the hospital's leverage in the community, said Jane Reichert, a Minneapolis-based senior consultant with VHA.
There also are different ramifications for each strategy, Reichert said. Once hospitals have threatened economic credentialing, for example, "organizations feel they have to follow through on it," she said.
"When you think about physician competition, you think they're after more money, but we found that's not always the case," Reichert said. "Money's part of it, but there's also efficiency and the ability to increase their own productivity."
Physicians who are seeking more control over day-to-day affairs may find hospitals willing to work with them to solve disputes. The VHA study calls this strategy "cultivating the commons," where a hospital tries to find common ground with the doctors and allows them more input. Physicians may get more say, which could result in better operating room efficiency and faster turnover, and the hospital could stave off a push toward a competing facility.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/03/15/bibf0315.htm.
