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Evolving Physician Practice Structures – Why?
Health care reform, economic and business uncertainty, increased regulatory burdens and scrutiny, and declining reimbursement from Medicare and other managed care payers are pushing a realignment of physician practices and providing new incentives for integration, consolidation, and other practice structures.
In a recent Medical Economics poll, 4 out of 5 physicians found it challenging to maintain their dual roles as doctor and businessperson, and 76% thought it was only going to get worse.
As a result, there is greater interest on the part of physicians and health systems in “partnering” with each other.
Another option that physicians have to increase their leverage is practice consolidation either to a large out of system group practice or an integrated solution. We are seeing more and more doctors merge with other physician practices as a response to pressures from healthcare reform law. Armanino McKenna, a top accounting and consulting firm in the bay area, has great insights on this new trend. They’ve outlined the 3 major upsides: Negotiating Power, Economies of Scale and Operational Efficiencies. As well, they go on to describe the opening steps you need to take when bringing together the partners considering the merger.