Post-acute care networks grow amid concerns from independent doctors

Health system executives will be focusing their attention on post-acute care networks over the next three years, according to Premier, Inc.’s spring 2016 Economic Outlook Survey.

 

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About 95% of executives in the survey said they expected to spend significant time growing, managing and refining these networks, according to Premier, a Charlotte-based medical improvement alliance. The survey was conducted online in winter 2016, and included 82 health system leaders.

The growth of post-acute care networks is the result of a seismic shift from fee-for-service payments to population health management and value-based payments requiring care across the medical spectrum. These networks have fueled innovation, but have also raised issues about physician independence.

Marni Jameson, executive director of the Association of Independent Doctors, said consolidation of practices into networks is troubling for many doctors who value independence. Jameson, a former medical journalist who holds a master’s degree in writing from Vermont College, heads an organization that represents about 1,000 independent doctors in 14 states.

 

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Jameson said making medical care less fragmented doesn’t always make it more efficient, but it does allow more control, something that’s attractive to government and insurers. “They want to make it simpler,”’ she said.

Jameson cited a recent study by the Health Care Cost Institute that shows substantially higher costs for chemotherapy when oncologists consolidate their practices.

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