ABSTRACT
Primary care centers (PCCs) are increasingly entering into linkages with hospitals that go far beyond the traditional arrangements in which the hospitals serve as backups to the PCCs. The linkages can be for managed care purposes, for training of health professionals in primary care settings, or for other reasons. This article explores the advantages of such arrangements, the organizational forms that the linkages can take, the legal issues, and negotiating the deal.
Subject(s)
Community Health Centers/organization & administration , Hospital Restructuring/classification , Organizational Affiliation/classification , Primary Health Care/organization & administration , Antitrust Laws , Community Health Centers/economics , Community Health Centers/legislation & jurisprudence , Delivery of Health Care, Integrated/legislation & jurisprudence , Delivery of Health Care, Integrated/organization & administration , Fraud/legislation & jurisprudence , Managed Care Programs/organization & administration , Medicaid/legislation & jurisprudence , Medicare/legislation & jurisprudence , Negotiating , Organizations, Nonprofit/economics , Primary Health Care/economics , Primary Health Care/legislation & jurisprudence , Taxes/legislation & jurisprudence , United StatesABSTRACT
The terms vertical integration and diversification, although used quite frequently, are ill-defined for use in the health care field. In this article, the concepts are defined--specifically for nonuniversity acute care hospitals. The resulting definitions are more useful than previous ones for predicting the effects of vertical integration and diversification.
