42
Joint Venture
Here are seven key notes on ASC and healthcare management companies.
Tenet Healthcare signed a new, four-year services agreement with Aetna
in December. e contract enables Aetna's 8.5 million Medicare Advantage,
Medicaid and Coventry members to obtain in-network access to Tenet's hos-
pitals, physicians and outpatient centers.
Surgery Partners appointed Brent Turner to its board of directors effective
Dec. 30, 2015. He will also serve on the company's audit committee.
Hospital Corporation of America expects its 2015 earnings will surpass its
previously issued guidance for 2015. HCA expects to report adjusted EBITDA
of approximately $7.9 billion for 2015 and expects same facility admissions for
the fourth quarter of 2015 to increase about 1.6 percent year-over-year. Same
facility emergency room visits are expected to grow approximately 3.6 percent.
Jeffrey Clifford, a director with Medical Facilities Corp., purchased 1,000
shares of his company's stock in a transaction valued at CA$14,520.
On Dec. 16, Sheridan, the physician services division of AmSurg, acquired
Northside Anesthesiology Consultants, marking Sheridan's entry into the
anesthesia specialty in Atlanta. Northside Anesthesiology Consultants is
comprised of 60 physicians and is the sole provider of anesthesiology for
Atlanta's Northside Hospital Healthcare System.
Surgical Care Affiliates CEO Andrew P. Hayek sold 6,679 shares of SCA
stock in a recent transaction. e shares were sold at an average price of
$38.50, for a total value of $257,141.
Mednax acquired Professional Anesthesia Associates in Jackson, Tenn. n
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5 Things to Know on the
Effect of Physician-Hospital
Integration
By Laura Dyrda
A
study published in JAMA Internal Medicine's Decem-
ber 2015 publication examined the financial integra-
tion of physicians and hospitals, and the association
with commercial healthcare prices.
The researchers used a regression analysis to examine the
relationship between changes in physician-hospital integra-
tion from Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2012 in 240 metropolitan
statistical areas. The study included more than 7 million
non-elderly enrollees for preferred-provider organizations
or point-of-service plans included in the Truven Health Mar-
ketScan Commercial Database.
The researchers found:
1. Physician hospital integration increased from 2008 to
2012 by 3.3 percentage points on average. There was con-
siderable variation in the increase across the country, with
the interquartile range going from 0.8 percentage points to
5.2 percentage points.
2. An increase in the physician-hospital integration equiva-
lent to the 75th percentile of changes was associated with
an average increase of $75 per enrollee in annual outpatient
spending from 2008 to 2012.
3. There was a 3.1 percent increase in average outpatient
spend per enrollee in 2012 to around $2,407.
4. Price increases drove the increase in outpatient spending
because associated changes in utilization were minimal. The
corresponding change in price-standardization spending
was $14 per enrollee.
5. The changes in physician-hospital integration weren't
associated with significant inpatient spending changes —
around $22 per enrollee. The integration also wasn't associ-
ated with a utilization change.
"Financial integration between physicians and hospitals has
been associated with higher commercial prices and spend-
ing for outpatient care," concluded the study authors. n
Surgery Partners, Surgical Care Affiliates,
Tenet & more: 7 key notes
By Mary Rechtoris
