Bradley Flansbaum, D.O.,  a hospitalist at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City, told Medscape that  hospitalists’ financial life generally hasn’t changed because of the arrival of Accountable Care Organizations.

“There is no difference in the way they get paid in an ACO. I don’t know of any hospitalist group that has changed its financial incentives for members in response to ACOs.”

He said that a hospitalist might not even know whether a  patient is part of an ACO at the time of admission.

But that will change.

“In 10 years, we’ll all be in the population health business,” says Ron Greeno, M.D.,  senior adviser for medical affairs at Team Health, North Hollywood, Calif., and  president-elect of the Society of Hospital Medicine.

“Hospitalists today are most involved with bundled-payment models. But in all models, they’ll see higher percentages of their revenue tied to performance metrics. Every healthcare organization in America is getting ready for this change,”  Dr. Greeno told Medscape.

To read the Medscape article, please hit this link.