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There's a tremendous amount of consolidation going on in the health care sector. A lot of the research about consolidation focuses on the economics. But, one of the primary arguments people make for bringing disparate parts of the health system together is that it enables clinical integration.

Patients, they say, should get better care if the clinicians are talking to each other and sharing information, which is easier to do if clinicians are a part of the same health care system.

It turns out that studying clinical integration is hard. How do you define it? How do you measure it or having the desired effect?

Hector Rodriguez from University of California Berkeley School of Public Health joins A Health Podyssey to discuss health care consolidation.

Rodriguez and colleagues published a paper in the March 2022 issue of Health Affairs examining the relationship between physician practice capabilities and service metrics, like quality, utilization, and spending.

They found that physician practices with robust capabilities, as defined by technology and innovation, management, culture, and patient-centered care, spent less on Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries than those practice locations with less robust capabilities and they delivered similar quality care.

If you enjoy this interview, order the March 2022 Health Affairs issue to get research on hospitals, health equity, care delivery and more.

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