In the current climate of consolidation among health systems and physician groups, maintaining independence can seem daunting.
Paul Merrick, MD, co-chair and chief physician executive at Downers Grove, Ill.-based Duly Health and Care, told "Becker's ASC Review Podcast" that doing so is an important part of the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care.
Note: This is an edited excerpt. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Question: As an independent physician organization, what are the talks like with insurance companies today, and how do you anticipate they're going to change in the future?
Dr. Paul Merrick: One of our goals at Duly is to maintain physician independence from both hospitals and insurance companies. That doesn't mean we don't want to take a very collaborative, strategic approach in engaging these other entities, but the old fee-for-service system … is much more focused on a reactive approach. Somebody gets sick and needs medicine or a procedure. As we move toward a risk payment scheme, we believe we can focus on that more proactive health and wellness piece.
We worked together with the Illinois State Medical Society to pass a preauthorization bill to simplify a provider's ability to get the appropriate care to their patients more efficiently, with less barriers and less bureaucracy. That bill goes into effect in January, and I'm hopeful that it does move out some of these historic barriers that all clinicians have encountered.