Physician Hospital Relationship

As we address changes in healthcare, one area of focus is the importance of the physician hospital relationship.  Now that pay for performance has become critical for hospitals, WMHS had to figure out a way to align incentives for physicians since the federal and state governments are mandating pay for performance initiatives.  Monies are at risk with strong performance reaping both benefit and reward and hospitals being penalized for poor performance.  As a result, we need our docs on board in order to be successful.  At WMHS, we are creating the CEO's Clinical Quality Council whereby I appointment six physicians who are the leaders in improved quality and performance and they in turn recommend six other physicians.  The twelve physician members of the Council are compensated for their time and will serve as the conduit for rewarding those physicians who are the best performers.  There is a pot money made available for the Committee to allocate based on pre-established criteria and improved quality outcomes.  This approach so far has the endorsement of government and is not in violation of the Stark  Act.  We will begin this approach next month at WMHS and I will keep you posted on the success as well as with the lessons learned.