Regarding “Hospitals employing more docs to grow market share, study finds”:

I totally agree that these arrangements will increase costs. From a personal experience, I recently went to my doctor for a follow-up visit and the lab tests were being done by the hospital laboratory at a much higher cost. Prior to my doctor's practice merging with the hospital, all tests were performed by Quest at a lower cost and less hassle with billing, etc.

After talking to the nurses, a lot of patients had complained about this higher cost, which was very noticeable for patients who had a history of being seen at the same facility by the same doctor both before and after the acquisition of the practice. These arrangements are not going to work. We have all seen this movie before, reference MedPartners from the 1990s! In the short run, consultants and lawyers are raking it in trying to comprehend ACOs.

Vinod Gidwani
President
Currence
Skokie, Ill.