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Memorandum
TO: Name Senior Consultant
FROM: Name- Staff Consultant
DATE: 10/08/2008
SUBJECT: Health Leaders Symposium at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX 10/03/2008
Dr. William F. Jesse, President and CEO of MGMA, in his talk entitled, “Physician-Hospital Relations Achieving Aligned Performance”, details the mutual dependence that exists between physician and hospital. Given that and the dynamic health care environment, tensions are inevitable and strategies to deal with tensions should be devised. A brief discussion followed.
His presentation had 4 parts, he first establishes the economics of medical practices, then discusses the changes from traditional relations between hospital and physicians to current trends, further dissects the demographics of physicians and finally provides strategies for aligning incentives and ultimately desired performance.
Understanding the economics of medical practices begins with recognizing the 7yr trend of operating expense increasing at about two times the rate of inflation while the reimbursement rates have remained flat. Due to how legislation created Medicare Part B and how its sustainable growth target rate is calculated, physicians in group practices are increasingly stressed which hinders productive working relationships in hospitals- Time is money.
The traditional relationship between hospital and physicians has thus evolved. Time had more of a convenience factor and now has shown to be the essential crunch. Tensions also arise since those traditionally volunteer-based activities are now huge cost-bearing activities (ex: On Call pay). There are more salaried physicians and generational differences have given way toward an incre ...