Financial Sustainability Report: February 2021

Physician compensation

Hospitals enjoy greater flexibility in compensating physicians for value-based care
By Max Reynolds, JD
New regulations effective Jan. 19, 2021, afford hospitals, providers of certain ancillary services and accountable care organizations (ACOs) they own significantly greater flexibility to compensate physicians for collaboration on value-based care initiatives.

Navigating change: Implications of CMS’s 2021 Physician Fee Schedule 
By Patty Bohney, CVA, MBA, Dave Hesselink, MBA, MHA, and Craig Hanscom, MBA 
Changes to the CMS Physician Fee Schedule for 2021 require immediate deliberation by provider organizations with respect to how they will structure their physician compensation arrangements.

Physician performance

Physician practices are facing operational and financial headwinds
Sponsored by Kaufman Hall
By Jim Blake and Cynthia Arnold
A recent study found that most performance measures of physician practices declined in 2020 relative to 2019 levels. The findings suggest reinforcing the physician performance improvement infrastructure should remain a priority for hospitals and health systems with employed physicians.

Value-Based Payment

Denials management: An underrated tool for optimizing value-based revenue
By Daniel J. Marino
Effective denials management not only supports a strong revenue stream under existing fee-for-service payment models, but also is a key tool for managing the full range of value-based payment contracts.

Physician perspective

Commentary
It’s all in the breath: An argument for improved outcomes and reduced costs in healthcare
Martin Bluth, MD, PhD
Effective breathing is known to promote good health, but our healthcare system has given relatively little attention to the concept of breathing therapy. COVID-19 has increased the need for a greater focus on this issue, and there are simple steps healthcare organizations can take to address it.