Health reform and physician-led accountable care the paradox of primary care physician leadership

摘要

Even though most adult primary care physicians may not realize it, they each can be seen as a chief executive officer (CEO) in charge of approximately $10 million of annual revenue. Consider that a typical primary care physician has approximately 2000 patients, each of whom annually accounts for about $5000 for health care spending. Although primary care today accounts for only 5% of that spending, the decisions made in the primary care setting have important implications for downstream medical care, such as subspecialty referrals, imaging and other medical testing, invasive procedures, and hospitalizations. A group of 100 adult primary care physicians could potentially influence almost $1 billion in health care spending.