How clinical integration plans can become too ambitious
Consolidating health systems is an ongoing trend as the industry moves toward value-based care—but it doesn’t always work. Just ask Integrated Health Network of Wisconsin.
Founded in 2010, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the network aimed to clinically integrate eight health systems, lessening variation in care delivery, building a large health IT infrastructure and closely tracking quality and cost measures. It was an ambitious plan, perhaps too ambitious, because the network is now abandoning years of work and working on reducing its staff from 50 employees down to six by mid-2017.
The biggest issue, said network CEO Kurt Janavitz, was employers shying away from narrow health systems that could force their employees to change providers or hospitals.
“It has been very slow uptake,” Janavitz said. “And it’s not just here.”
For more on why the company’s strategies to prepare for value-based care didn’t pay off, click on the link below:
John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.