New document provides guidance on PSNs
Are you thinking about developing or entering a physician-sponsored network? If so, check out the Academy's new set of guiding principles on PSNs -- businesses that are organized and owned by networks of independent physician practices to pursue managed care contracts and other ventures.
The "Preamble and Guiding Principles for Physician-Sponsored Networks" was developed by the AAFP Commission on Health Care Services, which has studied PSNs for about two years, and approved by the AAFP Board of Directors. The commission found that the risks and opportunities for family physicians entering PSNs vary greatly across geographic markets, as do organizational models.
The principles cover topics such as optimal health outcomes for patients, efficient delivery of care, family physicians' expertise in managing care and their focus on preventive health, clinical autonomy for network physicians, physicians' equity and the need for PSNs to demonstrate their value in order to obtain contracts with health plans.
If you would like a copy of the principles, call the order department at (800) 944-0000 and request item #R737.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.