Rescuing the hospital-sponsored group practice

Underperforming hospital-sponsored group practices can achieve reasonable financial performance without sacrificing morale among the group's physicians and office staff if six key elements for success can be implemented. These key elements involve formalizing physician leadership and governance, clearly allocating risk, communicating expectations regarding pay for performance, providing meaningful information, keeping overhead expenses under control, and putting an experienced management team in place. Implementing these six elements can help struggling hospital-sponsored group practices achieve a successful turnaround.