A new report found that health care reform is accelerating the collaboration between physicians and hospitals.
The report challenges the traditional notion that physicians are independent from and not financially tied to hospitals.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers report "From Courtship to Marriage: A Two-Part Series on Physician-Hospital Alignment" found that two-thirds of physicians surveyed indicated that hospitals need physicians to reduce inpatient costs, and more than 90 percent said hospitals should involve doctors in governance activities, such as serving on boards, being in management and taking part in performance improvement.
Another two-thirds of physicians indicated they had the time to be involved in leadership and management functions. However, some hospital leaders said most physicians lack needed leadership and business skills to participate in these activities. They felt that hospitals need to provide continuing education to physicians to help them fill this gap.
To make sure physicians have time to fulfill administrative obligations, more providers are paying them for serving on committees and participating in administrative activities.
PwC Health Research Institute conducted 28 in-depth interviews with executives and others representing healthcare providers, payers and professional associations. In the summer of 2010, it also commissioned an online survey of more than 1,000 physicians of different ages, genders, practice types and specialties.