A new report, Integrated Leadership for Hospitals and Health Systems: Principles for Success,  a joint venture of the  American Hospital Association and American Medical Association, sets forth what the authors see as the best ways to achieve physician-hospital integration.The include:

1. Physician and hospital leaders sharing values, general expectations and specific goals,  with  aligned incentives.
2. Incorporating all disciplines and supporting collaborative decision-making between doctors and hospital executives,  but with physicians keeping clinical autonomy.
3. Integrating hospital and physician leadership at all levels of a  health system, and with nursing and other non-physician clinicians participating in all key management decisions.
4. Transparency of clinical and business information across the enterprise,.
5. An information-technology system that  lets clinicians capture and report quality and performance data of all participants.