Integration: opportunities and issues for medical group practices

McManis Associates, a health care management consulting firm, recently gathered several medical group practice leaders for an informal discussion of integration and other key trends affecting medical groups. The goal of this "Forum for Medical Group Practice Leaders" was to elicit candid discussion among a small group of executives (who are in key positions in medical group practices), identify some of the key strategic issues they are facing and encourage them to share their opinions and experiences. The forum participants come from diverse backgrounds, a wide range of geographic locations and many different types of professional settings, including a single specialty medical group; independent, physician-owned multispecialty groups; an integrated medical center with its own hospital; the physician component of a large, integrated, multi-hospital system; and the leadership of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). The discussion was facilitated by Gerald L. McManis, president of McManis Associates, Inc., Louis Pavia Jr., senior vice president, and F. Kenneth Ackerman Jr., FACMPE, principal associate with the management consulting firm. This article provides a summary of the forum's proceedings, and the executive views and opinions of some of the key issues and challenges facing medical group practices today, including integration initiatives, governance, access to capital, critical success factors for group practices, as well as trends and projections for the future.