Health Care Reform is Already Happening

by Tom aka “Rusty Rustbelt”

Health Care Reform is Already Happening

Ohio State University Medical Center has built an affiliated physician group of more than 600 physicians. Effective by January 1, 2011, the physicians will be merged into OSUMC (not as medical school faculty) and will be full employees of OSUMC.

OSUMC will do all billing under a consolidated provider number and create a system wide electronic medical record.

This is an “integrated delivery system” (IDS), the strongest trend in health care delivery reform these days.

This is not new, the health care reform discussion in the early 90s created the first major wave of integration. Many of these efforts were massive flops, some worked well and other just cripple along.

Hospitals are not always able to properly manage physician practices, like the skilled driver of an 18-wheeler cannot jump into NASCAR, same concept, much different execution.

An IDS will presumably have much great bargaining power with health insurers, and there is a school of thought that health care costs could actually be driven up.

Without or without action in Washington, health care reform is moving ahead.

HT: Columbus Dispatch
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Tom aka “Rusty Rustbelt”