Contents tagged with quality
-
Clinical Integration: The key to improving quality and reducing cost in health care
//
//
Clinical Integration
The key to improving quality and reducing cost in health care
By Jonathan Nelson
The American health care industry is under tremendous pressure to lower … more
-
The changing landscape of family medicine in Texas
By W. Mike McCrady, M.D., and Anne McCrady
While politicians debate health care reform in Washington, here in Texas change is already affecting the practice of family medicine. In hospital board rooms and medical staff meetings, local doctors are hearing about the transformation of primary care, payments based on quality and value, and the expectation of providers to capture a larger and larger market share. There is a confounding list of issues behind these pressures: some legislative, some economic, and others technological. In response, around the state, not just doctors, but administrators, legislators, and consultants are weighing in on the critical role of primary care to manage cost, ensure continuity, and meet patients’ needs.
With so much at stake, Texas family physicians face a daunting future. How should we respond to these changes? As with so many things, the answer seems to be to work together. For a rapidly growing proportion of us, that means joining forces with other providers, often as part of a hospital system. A report from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows a drop in the percentage of physicians who identified themselves as being in partnerships from 50 percent to 30.2 percent in the past 10 years. This decreasing number of small medical groups is also documented in national statistics. In fact, a recent New England Journal of Medicine article predicts that by 2012, 40 percent of active primary care physicians will be employed by hospital systems.
more -
Texas Family Physician - Vol. 62 No. 1, Winter 2011
Go to the TFP archive
View the virtual issue
President’s Letter
Member News
2010 Year in Review
Perspective
Cover: Taking a chance on accountable careHealth system reformers hope … more
-
TAFP members participate in national quality improvement project
TAFP members participate in national quality improvement project
Fifteen practices in Cease Smoking Today (CS2Day) completed 12 months of work in the California Academy of Family Physicians’ … more