1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
5 Best Practices for Hospital Employment of Physicians, Lindsey Dunn
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Online: July 23, 2010 Appeared in Sept./Oct. 2010 Issue (print)
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Hospital employment of physicians has become increasingly popular in recent years and is only expected to continue. Most industry leaders predict that reimbursement will increasingly favor quality over quantity, and organizations most poised to profit under this type of system are those that are part of integrated delivery systems or other similar arrangements. While integrated delivery systems can take many forms, employment of non-hospital based physicians is one of the more common ways hospitals and health systems are choosing to align with physician groups. Although similar efforts failed in the 1990s due to hospitals financially over committing to these acquisitions, the employment practices today are markedly different than those of 20 years ago, and many say, better positioned for success. This article provides a discussion of five best practices for the successful employment of physicians: 1) maintain the culture of private practice, 2) involve physicians in governance, 3) productivity-based compensation, 4) dedicated management team and 5) clear and transparent objectives.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
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5. Explain types of human sources used.
Daniel Derman, MD, President, Northwestern Memorial Physician Group, Chicago Clifford Deveny, MD, Vice President of Physician Alignment and President of Summa Physicians Inc., Summa Health System, Akron, Ohio Kevin McCune, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Management, Advocate Medical Group, affiliated with Advocate Health Care, Oakbrook, Ill.
6. Results (if any).
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7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
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8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
For best practice pieces, the key to a great story is finding sources that are affiliated with the most respected entities for your topic area. For example, Advocate Health, Summa and Northwestern are well recognized nationally for the highest level of patient care and are known to have successful employed physician programs. The sources also represent both an academic medical center and two community-focused integrated health systems.