Providence Health’s Hospital-Doctor Alliance Sees High Participation
The hospital-physician alliance announced last fall by Providence Health & Services in Southern California has attracted high demand from physicians, Payers & Providers reports (Payers & Providers, 1/19).
Background on the Alliance
The Providence Partners for Health alliance -- which is jointly owned by Providence Health and participating physicians -- aims to focus on collaboration and standardizing best practices among physicians and hospitals.
Under the initiative, physicians will be required to share data on quality and will receive feedback from their peers to demonstrate compliance with Providence Health's care guidelines.
In addition, the alliance will create teams of doctors, clinicians and experts to identify ways to improve care and standardize best practices (California Healthline, 10/6/11).
The alliance is not an accountable care organization, but industry observers have said it could be a step toward creating an ACO.
Alliance Gains Support
A total of 668 physicians have agreed to participate in the alliance. Last October, Providence Health officials estimated that 250 physicians would participate.
Kerry Carmody -- Providence Health's chief operating officer for California -- said, "The model of a limited liability corporation where physicians had a 50% ownership of a structured entity appealed to them."
Physicians who joined the alliance invested $1,000 each, and Providence Health provided matching contributions.
Carmody said that Providence Partners has about $1.3 million and has hired three executives and established a quality committee.
The alliance also has identified three initiatives to work on, though officials did not detail the initiatives (Payers & Providers, 1/19).
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