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Hospital-physician rift leads to ’medical arms race’

Physician Practice Advisor, December 6, 2006

Deteriorating relations between hospitals and physicians is increasing competition and leading to a 'medical arms race,' according to the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). Services once performed only in hospitals are migrating to physician-owned specialty hospitals, freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, and physicians' offices.

The report is based on site visits conducted every two to three years in 12 nationally representative communities. In the latest visits, 46% of hospital CEOs identified aspects of relations with physicians as among the top three pressures facing their hospitals, compared to only 15% in 2001.

Twenty-one percent of CEOs cited competition with physicians over services as their greatest concern, and 11% cited problems assuring on-call physician emergency department coverage.

To read the HSC report, click here.

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