Affordable Care Act Case Study

For the healthcare system of the United States to be successful, there should be a positive relationship between the physicians and the hospitals who can be both competitors and collaborators. It is the role of physicians to make major decisions such as performing procedures, admitting patients and the use of supplies such as pharmaceuticals within the hospital. The concept of hospital-physician alignments has existed since the early 1990’s. Since that time, healthcare systems and many hospitals have shifted to different models of physical alignment. From this, hospitals hope to attain better financing, security and to capture the market share. The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 after which hospital-physician integration became driven

In other words, it is one joint venture that changes to become many joint ventures which are connected by similar goals and objectives. For instance, one integrated model can have nursing homes, affiliated medical groups, acute care hospitals, employed physicians, primary care clinics, and independent medical groups

The integrated physician models is an innovative model that uses cooperation and organization that gives tasks and defines roles for medical services and specialized services in a hospital (Coker Group, & HCPro (Firm), 2013). It is a performance management unit that implements the main functions of productivity management, patient advocacy, and quality management. It also serves as a unit for coordinating and ensuring that medical care in clinical pathways are delivered properly. The integrated physician model aims at bringing collaboration to medical teams that are competing against one another in the same hospital. Through achieving this, the integrated physician model creates values for the patients, hospitals and the doctors. Hospital care providers and physicians that put their focus on patients become stronger because of the high competition that exists in the health care segment. To achieve success, it is important for patients to go through orientation. This model provides a framework that

Clinical integration makes it possible for physicians and hospitals to defuse competition and overcome separation. The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) has recently made efforts to take part in clinical care that is provided to patients by sites of care and other providers. This provides an opportunity to manage services by managing chronic illnesses, centralized scheduling, clinical pathways, electronic health records and programs that are innovative.

Clinical integration in provision of care is also important in ensuring delivery of affordable care and high quality in the current environment. The ACO allows coordination of primary care givers in the field of provision of healthcare. Incorporating practice that is evidence based helps in improving the healthcare system. Medicare views healthcare in terms of payer and patient