Physician Hospital Organizations: Developing a Collaborative Structure for Shared Savings Agreements

Summary: Physician-hospital organizations have been around before, but it's the emphasis on quality that sets today's PHO apart from the 80's version. In PHO 2.0, where healthcare value is favored over volume, clinical integration of participating physicians is a prerequisite, agree Greg Mertz, director of Healthcare Strategy Group, and Travis Ansel, its manager of strategic services. In this interview, they talk about the essential first steps of PHO creation and the perennial challenges of physician engagement and clinical leadership in this emerging collaborative model. Greg Mertz and Travis Ansel explored the key contractual elements to consider when creating a PHO during a January 23, 2013 webinar, "Physician Hospital Organizations: Developing a Collaborative Structure for Shared Savings Agreements," a 45-minute program sponsored by The Healthcare Intelligence Network.