In other areas of the country, physician entities have been seriously exploring the possibility of direct contracting with large purchasers of health care to take total financial risk for the care of those individuals covered. Recent changes in state and federal law suggest a legislative sentiment favoring such assumption of full risk by large provider groups or networks. It should come as no surprise that all this talk of provider-borne risk has sparked much discussion regarding the proper function of health insurance companies of the future. It is not coincidence that insurance companies are in various stages of testing the concept of building clinics and employing professionals with whom they have traditionally contracted. For the present time, a relatively small number of insurers are perceived as the doctor's conduit to the health care marketplace.
Physician commitment is the key to successful health care ventures of the future.
Common to all physician strategies for surviving tumultuous change is the basic business principle of enhancing and demonstrating, value. Modifying, reassessing and reinventing complex processes of care is the means of providing better illness treatment and health preservation while, at the same time, holding the line on cost escalation. Because patient care processes require the coordinated efforts of many, those ultimately responsible for health outcomes must develop and exercise the skills of team leadership and consensus building. The least replaceable parts of the health care engine are the physicians who have dedicated their youth to academic excellence and rigorous professional training. Such inherent value notwithstanding, the doctors of greatest value in the future will be those who become expert in the re-engineering of patterns of practice.