The owner of Mercy Medical Center in Canton wants to help some of the estimated 4,000 independent Northeast Ohio doctors manage their practices without becoming hospital employees.
The Sisters of Charity Health System recently launched Independent Physician Solutions (IPS), a for-profit subsidiary that offers electronic medical record adoption and other consulting services.
The new venture will provide participating physicians with access to more affordable electronic medical record and billing and collection programs without being forced to become a hospital employee, said Orlando L. Alvarez, IPS’ chief executive and the health system’s executive vice president for physician alignment. Participants will be able to continue practicing at any area hospitals they choose.
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Through market research, the health system discovered that even though big hospitals in the region employ many doctors, ”there was a large number of independent physicians who wanted to remain independent,” Alvarez said.
”Physicians were looking for options that would support them with the opportunity to continue to practice independent medicine,” he said.
Along with Mercy Medical Center, the Sisters of Charity owns St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland and two hospitals in South Carolina. The Catholic health system is targeting doctors in Cuyahoga and Stark counties, as well as in the markets where it has hospitals in South
Carolina.
Independent Physician Services and its 15 employees are based in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn.
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IPS has a deal with GE Healthcare to offer General Electric’s Centricity Practice Solution electronic medical records and practice management program to doctors.
Participating practices pay IPS 6.75 percent or 7.75 percent of their collections, depending on their annual revenues. They also pay a $200-per-month hosting fee per physician and a one-time licensing fee of $9,000 per doctor to adopt and use the computer system.
Starting next year, doctors and hospitals must begin moving toward using electronic medical records to qualify for the maximum amount of federal incentive payments. Eventually, they will face reduced payments from Medicare and Medicaid if they don’t adopt the technology.
Dr. Gregory Hall, an internal medicine physician in Cleveland, was the first independent doctor to sign up for the program. He has been looking for an affordable electronic medical records and billing system that met his needs as a solo practitioner.
”I’m sort of a computer-savvy person and I was overwhelmed with the products that are out there and the price,” he said. ”When I would find a product that looked good, it was usually out of my price range. IPS came along and the price was right. I can’t wait to have it start next year.”
In the future, Independent Physician Solutions also will look for ways that participating doctors can work together to negotiate better payment rates from insurers, Alvarez said.
”We need to have a critical mass of physicians to be able to leverage those relationships with payers,” he said.
Hospitals here and nationwide constantly are looking for ways to improve their relationships with doctors. After all, these facilities rely on physicians to keep their beds filled and their operating rooms and diagnostic labs busy with patient referrals.
”We garner the loyalty of the physicians and they see us as their partners and they buy into and support our faith-based ministries,” Alvarez said.
Mercy Medical Center’s cross-town rival, Aultman Hospital, has been operating its Aultman Management Services Organization since 1996 to offer revenue cycle management, practice management, consulting and information technology to about 340 participating doctors in Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Tuscarawas and Carroll counties.
The subsidiary purchases electronic medical record licenses from Allscripts in bulk at discounted rates for resale to area doctors.
So far, the electronic medical record system has been adopted in 14 practices with 50 providers, said Tom Boggs, Aultman’s senior vice president of physician services.
Another 18 practices with 53 providers are scheduled to adopt the program. ”We have seen demand for our services continue to rise, especially in the area of electronic medical record adoption,” he said.
Cheryl Powell is a health reporter for The Akron Beacon Journal, the daily newspaper in Akron and a syndication partner of MedCity News.
