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Specialization and physician-ownership in the US hospital industry: beyond the moratorium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2007

KATHLEEN CAREY ,
JAMES F. BURGESS, JR  and
GARY J. YOUNG
KATHLEEN CAREY*
Affiliation:
VA Center for Health Quality, Outcomes and Economic Research and the Boston University School of Public Health
JAMES F. BURGESS, JR
Affiliation:
VA Center for Organization, Leadership and Management Research, Boston University School of Public Health
GARY J. YOUNG
Affiliation:
VA Center for Organization, Leadership and Management Research, Boston University School of Public Health
*
*Corresponding author: Kathleen Carey, VA Center for Health Quality, Outcomes and Economic Research, 200 Springs Road, Bedford, MA 01742, USA. Tel: +1 781-687-2140; Email: kcarey@bu.edu
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Abstract:

A moratorium in the US on referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients to new cardiac, orthopedic, or surgical specialty hospitals by physician-investors was recently lifted, yet the considerable controversy stirred by this growing hospital organizational form continues. This paper calls attention to the peculiar trade-offs introduced by entry of these specialty hospitals, and highlights distinctions among their different types. New policy approaches should be open to the notion that all physician-owned specialty hospitals need not necessarily be regulated in the same way. And caution will be required not to compromise the capacity of community general hospitals to service more complex patients and to maintain the social safety net.

Type
Perspective
Information
Health Economics, Policy and Law , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , October 2007 , pp. 409 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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