Drugs in short supply, especially those needed in oncology, can create legal and patient-safety problems for risk-bearing providers.

Today, hospitals recognize the need for greater physician leadership within their organizations to achieve service line goals and prepare for a postreform environment. This involvement of physician leadership is critical to helping hospitals prepare for a payment environment in which their financial imperatives are more closely tied to their ability to demonstrate highquality clinical outcomes,...

Purpose. The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis continues to monitor the spread of Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) into rural U.S. counties to determine whether this model appeals to rural providers and health systems. The RUPRI Center’s periodic reports reveal trends in rural ACO activity; this brief follows one released in July 2013, with data through December 2015. ...

Community-based health information exchanges (HIEs) and efforts to consolidate and house data are growing, given the advent of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Affordable Care Act and other similar population health focused initiatives. The Southeast Michigan Beacon Community (SEMBC) can be looked to as one case study that offers lessons learned, insights on challenges faced and ...

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) and the more general movement toward accountable care, in which payments are aligned directly with improvements in quality and cost, are intended to increase the incentives and support for higher value in health care. As of mid-2013, there are over 4 million beneficiaries covered by Medicare ACOs, and large private payers continue to enter new ACO arrangeme...

The extent to which physicians lead, own, and govern accountable care organizations (ACOs) is unknown. However, physicians' involvement in ACOs will influence how clinicians and patients perceive the ACO model, how effective these organizations are at improving quality and costs, and how future ACOs will be organized. From October 2012 to May 2013 we fielded the National Survey of Accountable C...

Faced with declining payment rates, California providers have implemented various strategies that have strengthened their leverage in negotiating prices with private health plans. When negotiating together, hospitals and physicians enhance their already significant bargaining clout. California's experience is a cautionary tale for national health reform: It suggests that proposals to promote in...