title: Many mountains to climb.
abstract: Medical groups of all types and sizes stand collectively at a crossroads in the evolution of the healthcare industry in the United States at this point in time. Faced with a welter of issues, from reimbursement concerns to mandates coming out of federal healthcare reofrm and the American Recovery and Reinvestment/Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (ARRA-HITECH) Act and other legislative and regulatory developments and competing to better serve the needs of both patients and payers and purchasers, the CEOs, CIOs and others leading physician groups are working assiduously to find ways forward that meet the demands of stakeholder groups while also meeting the needs of their practicing physicians. In order to get a sense of where the leaders in the field are at this point in time. Healthcare Informatics Eidtor-in-Chief Mark Hagland gathered together several leaders of pioneering medical groups nationwide through a "virtual roundtable" process late this summer, in which he interviewed successive leaders and "shared forward" their thoughts with the others around this "virtual roundtable". Below are excerpts from the progressive interviews. Capsule profiles of the leaders and their organizations can be found below. Among the many inssues facing these leaders: how to plan for the development of accountable care organizations (ACOs), the patient-centered mdical home model, bundled payments and other federal policy requirements; how to make progress towards meaningful use, under the HITECH Act; how to plan for ongoing infrastructure, interoperability, and mobility development; and how to prioritize a variety of disparate efforts aimed at fulfilling different types of needs. No one medical group leader has all the answers; but our panel of leaders certainly has many important and useful perspectives to share.
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Hagland
mesh_terms: D060866:Accountable Care Organizations / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D057171:American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000639:trends*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States