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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (19 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (1996)
    Cover page: Vertical integration and organizational networks in health care
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2001)

    We obtained detailed quantitative and interview data from Aetna U.S. Healthcare and six physician organizations to examine changes between 1998 and 2000 in the scope of capitation contracting and delegation of responsibility for claims payment and medical management in New York and California. The physician organizations in New York included Benchmark (Continuum), Montefiore IPA, and Lenox Hill Healthcare Network. In California they included Brown and Toland Medical Group, Monarch Healthcare, and Santa Clara County IPA. In both California, where global and shared risk capitation have been common, and New York, where they have not, we find movement to reduce the scope of prepayment and a rethinking of the delegated contractual relationship by physician organizations and health plans. This represents a departure from the 1990s, when many industry participants and analysts expected capitated and delegated relationships to spread across the nation.

      Cover page: Reevaluation of capitation contracting in New York and California
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2015)
        Cover page: Apple Pickers or Federal Judges: Strong versus Weak Incentives in Physician Payment
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2016)

        Objectives

        Reports suggest a trend for physician practices to change ownership from physicians to hospitals. It remains unclear how this change affects quality of patient care. We report the effect of a change to hospital ownership on the use of care management processes (CMPs) and health information technology (IT) among practices in the United States.

        Study design

        Trend analyses of 3 large national surveys of physician practices.

        Methods

        We included 2 cohorts of practices: large practices with 20 or more physicians and small/medium practices with fewer than 20 physicians. The main outcomes were the changes in CMP and health IT indices among practices that were acquired by hospitals. We used multivariate logistic regression to assess these changes.

        Results

        Large practices acquired by hospitals had larger increases in their CMP index than those that remained physician-owned (11.0-point increase vs 7.0-point decrease; adjusted P = .03). Small/medium practices acquired by hospitals had smaller but significantly higher increases in their CMP score (3.8 points vs 2.6 points; adjusted P = .04). Among all practices, there were no significant differences in the change of the health IT index.

        Conclusions

        We found a significant increase in the use of CMPs among practices that were acquired by hospitals and no difference in health IT use. These findings suggest that a trend for hospitals to own physician practices may have a positive effect on chronic disease management and quality of care.
          Cover page: Trends in hospital ownership of physician practices and the effect on processes to improve quality.
          • Article
          On-Line Working Paper Series (2007)

          Objective. To describe the proportion, characteristics, and attitudes of pediatricians who want to allocate more time in primary care to children with special health care needs (CSHCN). Methods. Data from a national random sample mail survey of 1000 pediatricians were used to examine attitudes towards allocating more time to CSHCN, and associated preferences towards changes to primary care. Results. Sixty percent (n=502) of eligible subjects participated. Forty-five percent of pediatricians reported that, if they could redesign their practices to maximize efficiency and effectiveness, they would allocate more time to providing care to CSHCN. After multivariate adjustment, respondents who wanted to allocate more time to CSHCN were more likely to want to allocate more time to care coordination with staff (OR 3.6[1.7-7.4, p?0.001]) and non-visit communication with parents (OR 3.0[1.7-5.5], p?0.001), and were more likely to prefer delegation of well-child care services to non-physicians (OR 5.9[2.8-12.5], p?0.001). Inadequate reimbursement was reported as the most important obstacle to implementing such changes in their practices. Conclusions. These findings suggest that a substantial number of pediatricians would ideally allocate more time in primary care to CSHCN. Systems of care that could support such a change should be investigated.

            Cover page: General Pediatricians' Views on Allocating More Time in Primary Care Practice to Children with Special Health Care: Results from a National Survey
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2004)
              Cover page: The Alignment and Blending of Payment Incentives within Physician Organizations
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2015)

              Background

              The accountable care organization (ACO) is a new organizational form to manage patients across the continuum of care. There are numerous questions about how ACOs should be optimally structured, including compensation arrangements with primary care physicians.

              Methods

              Using data from a national survey of physician practices, we compared primary care physicians' compensation between practices in ACOs and practices that varied in their financial risk for primary care costs using 3 groups: practices not participating in a Medicare ACO and with no substantial risk for primary care costs; practices not participating in an ACO but with substantial risk for primary care costs; and practices participating in an ACO regardless of their risk for primary care costs. We measured physicians' compensation as the percentage of compensation based on salary, productivity, clinical quality or patient experience, and other factors. Regression models estimated physician compensation as a function of ACO participation and risk for primary care costs while controlling for other practice characteristics.

              Results

              Physicians in ACO and non-ACO practices with no substantial risk for costs on average received nearly one-half of their compensation from salary, slightly less from productivity, and about 5% from quality and other factors. Physicians not in ACOs but with substantial risk for primary care costs received two-thirds of their compensation from salary, nearly one-third from productivity, and slightly more than 1% from quality and other factors. Participation in ACOs was associated with significantly higher physician compensation for quality; however, participation was not significantly associated with compensation from salary, whereas financial risk was associated with much greater compensation from salary.

              Conclusion

              Although practices in ACOs provide higher compensation for quality, compared with practices at large, they provide a similar mix of compensation based on productivity and salary. Incentives for ACOs may not be sufficiently strong to encourage practices to change physician compensation policies for better patient experience, improved population health, and lower per capita costs.
                Cover page: Salary and Quality Compensation for Physician Practices Participating in Accountable Care Organizations
                • Article
                On-Line Working Paper Series (2007)

                Objective. To describe the proportion, characteristics, and attitudes of pediatricians who want to allocate more time in primary care to children with special health care needs (CSHCN). Methods. Data from a national random sample mail survey of 1000 pediatricians were used to examine attitudes towards allocating more time to CSHCN, and associated preferences towards changes to primary care. Results. Sixty percent (n=502) of eligible subjects participated. Forty-five percent of pediatricians reported that, if they could redesign their practices to maximize efficiency and effectiveness, they would allocate more time to providing care to CSHCN. After multivariate adjustment, respondents who wanted to allocate more time to CSHCN were more likely to want to allocate more time to care coordination with staff (OR 3.6[1.7-7.4, p≤0.001]) and non-visit communication with parents (OR 3.0[1.7-5.5], p≤0.001), and were more likely to prefer delegation of well-child care services to non-physicians (OR 5.9[2.8-12.5], p≤0.001). Inadequate reimbursement was reported as the most important obstacle to implementing such changes in their practices. Conclusions. These findings suggest that a substantial number of pediatricians would ideally allocate more time in primary care to CSHCN. Systems of care that could support such a change should be investigated.

                  Cover page: General Pediatricians' Views on Allocating More Time in Primary Care Practice to Children with Special Health Care: Results from a National Survey
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2018)

                  Objective

                  To estimate the relationship between outcomes of care and medical practices' structure and use of organized care improvement processes.

                  Data sources/study setting

                  We linked Medicare claims data to our national survey of physician practices (2012-2013). Fifty percent response rate; 1,040 responding practices; 31,888 physicians; 868,213 attributed Medicare beneficiaries.

                  Study design

                  Cross-sectional observational analysis of the relationship between practice characteristics and total spending, readmissions, and ambulatory care-sensitive admissions (ACSAs), for all beneficiaries and five categories of beneficiary defined by predicted need for care.

                  Principal findings

                  Practices with 100+ physicians and 50-99 physicians had, respectively, annual spending per high-need beneficiary that was $1,870 (12.5 percent) and $1,824 higher than practices with 1-2 physicians, and readmission rates 1.64 and 1.71 higher. ACSA rates did not vary significantly by practice size. Outcomes did not vary significantly by ownership or by practices' use of organized processes to improve care.

                  Conclusions

                  Large practices had higher spending and readmission rates than the smallest practices, especially for high-need beneficiaries. There were no significant performance differences between physician-owned and hospital-owned practices. Policy makers should consider the effects of specific policies on provider organization, pending further research to learn which types of practice provide better care.
                    Cover page: Medical Group Characteristics and the Cost and Quality of Care for Medicare Beneficiaries
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2013)

                    Objective

                    We sought to determine the extent to which adoption of health information technology (HIT) by physician practices may differ from the extent of use by individual physicians, and to examine factors associated with adoption and use.

                    Materials and methods

                    Using cross-sectional survey data from the National Study of Small and Medium-Sized Physician Practices (July 2007-March 2009), we examined the extent to which organizational capabilities and external incentives were associated with the adoption of five key HIT functionalities by physician practices and with use of those functionalities by individual physicians.

                    Results

                    The rate of physician practices adopting any of the five HIT functionalities was 34.1%. When practices adopted HIT functionalities, on average, about one in seven physicians did not use those functionalities. One physician in five did not use prompts and reminders following adoption by their practice. After controlling for other factors, both adoption of HIT by practices and use of HIT by individual physicians were higher in primary care practices and larger practices. Practices reporting an emphasis on patient-centered management were not more likely than others to adopt, but their physicians were more likely to use HIT.

                    Discussion

                    Larger practices were most likely to have adopted HIT, but other factors, including specialty mix and self-reported patient-centered management, had a stronger influence on the use of HIT once adopted.

                    Conclusions

                    Adoption of HIT by practices does not mean that physicians will use the HIT.
                      Cover page: When does adoption of health information technology by physician practices lead to use by physicians within the practice?
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