Four Successful Strategies for Physician Integration

Healthcare providers across the country are facing significant financial and operational challenges amid several competing trends such as losses in investment income, staffing shortages, increased inflation, increasing wage pressure, and the like. VMG Health’s Strategic Advisory Services Division works with hospitals, health systems, medical groups, and providers to take strategic steps that help move the system in the right direction.

Problem Statement

A myriad of 2022/2023 stewardship issues are confronting hospitals and health systems, and physician integration and relationship models are not immune to the underlying financial stress. As these challenges mount, there are alternative physician strategies developing in the market with a subset of physicians seeking greater independence and returning to private practice, dry capital investments from private equity including robust ambulatory assets, and clinical network solutions making a bolder step towards value.

Supporting Context

For many hospitals and health systems the value proposition of investing in an integrated delivery system with employed/contracted physicians has not been realized or accounted for in a way that feels economically sustainable. To this end, new platforms and strategies are emerging that health systems need to be aware of in the context of making sound strategic decisions.

VMG Health’s Solutions

VMG Health experts have developed a leading solution set to reposition physician practice alignment that is customized for your unique market and underlying facts and circumstances. A sampling of physician enterprise strategy offerings include:

1. Clinical Enterprise Assessment – Too many hospitals and health systems make uninformed business decisions based on antiquated methods. VMG Health has developed an enterprise-wide approach to physician practice benchmark testing the sustainability of physician practice investment.
2. Alternatives to Physician Employment – Too often the desire for standardization has impeded material service line expansion and growth. Clinical service offerings in orthopedics, cardiology, gastroenterology, urology, and other critical specialty areas now have alternative considerations with expansion of ambulatory surgery and/or office-based labs. If you employ a large cadre of providers in any of these areas, alternative joint venture models (as alternatives to employment) should be evaluated.
3. Ambulatory Investment Repositioning – ASC investments and joint ventures have long been a staple of hospitals and health systems looking to align with community physicians. Many of these multispecialty assets will migrate to a more directed service line (cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, etc.) over time. Growth opportunities exist across key product lines with a more specialized organizational model and structure.
4. Partnered Growth with Private Equity – Many health systems look at private equity as a significant competitor. VMG Health has developed leading strategies with private equity and health systems affording health systems opportunities to reposition certain physician assets, invest in a practice platform for growth, and materially migrate its ambulatory positioning with partner focused on growth.

Other ways VMG Health can help systems during this tumultuous time in the healthcare industry:

• Health System Financial Repositioning
• Aligning Physician Compensation & Reimbursement Models to Maximize Revenue Opportunities