"Primary care is target for hospitals" by Lena H. Sun, Washington Post / June 26, 2011
WASHINGTON — In one of the first concrete steps to remake the way medical care is delivered, hospitals are competing to hire primary-care physicians, trying to lure them from their private practices to work as salaried employees alongside specialists.
The push is forcing doctors to make decisions about how to deliver care to patients, many of whom have relied on longstanding relationships with trusted independent neighborhood physicians and wonder what lies ahead.
It also spotlights benefits and drawbacks for patients and doctors alike in one of the health-care overhaul’s much-touted initiatives, set to begin next year. The law will reward teams of doctors, nurses, and others if they coordinate to provide better care at lower costs. As front-line doctors, primary-care physicians are key to this effort.
In some cases, hospitals are seeking to take over practices; in others, they are hiring new graduates or relocating doctors from outside the region to prepare for Accountable Care Organizations. Some physicians want to work for hospitals and are seeking to play one against the other, doctors said. But many others remain wary.
See: Return of the HMOs
No Choice With Obamacare
But we were told.... (sigh)
Also see: Obamacare the End of Employer-Based Health Plans
Looks like you will be getting a form of single-payer anyway, taxpayers.
Primary-care physicians wrestling with the implications of becoming hospital employees or trying to go it alone say it is ultimately about changing the way they have practiced medicine for decades....
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