Enhancing Physician Alignment for Orthopedic Success: A Look into Corazon’s Partnership with a Texas Health System

In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, achieving strong physician alignment is essential for hospitals and health systems aiming to optimize service lines and elevate patient care. Corazon has a proven track record in guiding healthcare organizations through this complex process. A recent partnership with a Texas hospital highlights Corazon’s expertise in crafting customized physician alignment models with a specific focus on orthopedic services. Through this collaboration, Corazon helped the facility navigate critical alignment challenges, ensuring a strategic, sustainable approach to physician engagement and service line expansion.

Understanding the Challenges of Alignment

The initial assessment revealed that physicians at the facility had mixed feelings about traditional employment models, preferring more flexible “virtual employment” options. The challenge lay in aligning physician interests with hospital goals while maintaining independence—a common scenario in orthopedic service lines. Key concerns included limited call pay, the potential loss of control over billing, and insufficient capacity at existing practice facilities.

Through interviews with orthopedic surgeons, administrators, and service line leaders, Corazon identified shared goals across stakeholders: the desire to build a high-quality, regional destination center, expand market share, and increase case volumes. However, creating a model that addressed both the hospital’s operational needs and the physicians’ preferences required a nuanced approach.

Corazon’s Approach: Customized Alignment Models

Corazon leveraged its deep knowledge of physician alignment models, focusing on strategies that would balance autonomy with integration. The options explored included co-management agreements, gainsharing, and joint venture models:

1. Co-Management Agreements: This model promotes collaboration by rewarding physicians for achieving performance targets, driving improvements in clinical outcomes and operational efficiency. Corazon recommended a structure that would allow for meaningful physician involvement in management, ensuring that performance targets aligned with both hospital and physician goals.
2. Gainsharing: Designed to align financial incentives, gainsharing allowed physicians to share in cost savings resulting from standardized protocols or cost-effective supply usage. This model effectively motivates physicians to collaborate on efficiency improvements without compromising patient care quality.
3. Joint Ventures and Foundation Models: Corazon also guided discussions around joint ventures and foundation models, which enable hospitals to work closely with physician practices through shared ownership of facilities, resources, or service lines. These models can increase hospital-physician alignment by fostering a sense of shared purpose while maintaining operational independence.

A Vision for a Regional Destination Center

A key outcome of Corazon’s engagement was the conceptualization of a “one-stop-shop” facility. This destination center would house comprehensive orthopedic services, including surgical suites, imaging, rehabilitation, and specialty care clinics. By consolidating these services under one roof, the facility and physicians aimed to create a streamlined, patient-centric experience that could enhance market reach and attract patients from a wider region. Corazon’s role in developing a strategic roadmap for this facility, including facility size projections, resource allocation, and financial analysis, was instrumental in turning this vision into a viable project.

Corazon’s Strategic Value

This Texas hospital example underscores Corazon’s unique capability to develop and implement physician alignment strategies that serve both institutional goals and physician needs. By crafting alignment models that foster trust, reward performance, and offer strategic flexibility, Corazon helps hospitals build strong partnerships with physicians, leading to improved patient outcomes and sustainable service line growth. For health systems looking to optimize their orthopedic or other specialized service lines, Corazon stands out as a trusted advisor in achieving lasting, mutually beneficial alignment.

By: Michelle Luffey