CEO summit. The new delivery & financing realities. Part III of III

In cooperation with McManis Associates Inc., Washington, Hospitals & Health Networks recently convened a summit on the integration of financing and delivery in health care. This installment is the third of a three-part series on lessons learned by those on the front lines of integration activity. The session was designed and facilitated by senior associates at McManis. Among the issues summit participants discussed in the second segment: What level of understanding do purchasers have of the factors that differentiate quality in health care services? Can provider-driven integrated delivery systems compete with insurer-driven ones? And what happens when a large integrated delivery system merges with a dominant insurer, as happened in the Philadelphia market? Can that model be successfully replicated in other markets? In this final segment, participants talk about whether providers' deep connections to their communities will add value in a reformed delivery system; how incentives might be aligned among all the players in integrated networks and organizations; how the concept of community focus might be redefined under systems integration; and the process involved in preparing for constant, accelerated change. The second segment concluded with comments about the assets providers and insurers bring to integrated health systems, and whether the merger experience of Graduate Health System and QCC/Independence Blue Cross could be replicated in other markets or not.