After 15 years of restrictions, could physician-owned hospitals reshape U.S. health care?

For the first time in 15 years, the federal government may be ready to rethink its restrictions on physician-owned hospitals — and advocates say the timing could not be more critical.

The Affordable Care Act's Section 6001 effectively froze market competition in hospital care, limiting where and how physician-owned facilities could grow. Now, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is asking a different question: not whether physician-owned hospitals should participate in its new Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) payment model, but how.

Carlos Cardenas, M.D., president of Physician-Led Healthcare for America, calls it a landmark moment — and he sat down with Medical Economics to explain why it matters for physicians, patients and entire communities.

When doctors lead care from the bedside and the boardroom, Cardenas argues, patients win. So does the community, the “greater bedside” where physicians and patients live, and where physicians can apply the principles of research, treatment and healing to the body politic.

To learn more, CMS has published its proposed 2027 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals (IPPS) includes a request for information about participation of physician-owned hospitals in Medicare’s new Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM). Public comments on the CMS request for information are due June 9. The IPPS is a 576-page document, but the relevant section can be found by searching for: “Hospital with Physician Ownership Request for Information”.

Related coverage: ‘A landmark moment’ — Is Medicare ready to revive physician-owned hospitals?

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