Package pricing project improves hospital-physician relations. Interview by Donald E.L. Johnson

St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., is one of the four hospitals participating in a unique federal project testing package pricing for coronary by-pass procedures. In the following interview with Donald E.L. Johnson, editor and publisher of Health Care Strategic Management, Garry C. Faja, CEO of St. Joseph Mercy, explains how the project has impacted relations between the medical staff and hospital administrators. It has led to more sharing of data and ideas as well as unifying the many people involved in the hospital's cardiology program. Surprisingly, it was the cardiac surgeons who spearheaded the project. "They saw it as a direction for the future," Faja said.