Integrating management of physician groups and hospitals

This chapter discusses the management challenges facing hospitals as they enter into formal organizational and economic linkages with physician organizations. Managing physician organizations does not simply mean controlling physicians through employment arrangements, but rather providing an organizational structure through which physicians can work together and with the hospital toward a common goal of creating a high-quality, cost-effective system of patient care. Integration of the management approaches required to run hospitals and physician groups successfully represents a significant challenge. Meeting this challenge is key to creating an organization that will be able to truly manage care.