Private physician practices increasingly are being integrated into large hospital systems in Kentucky. But that integration is coming with a cost of $100,000 or more per physician each year for many hospital systems, according to a new report from Lexington-based accounting and consulting firm Dean Dorton Allen Ford. Those losses are occurring across hospital systems of varying sizes, the report said. There can be local and regional market share advantages to having employed physicians, the report said. "However, if hospitals are to continue with this strategy, they must rapidly improve physician operations and narrow the immense losses physician groups are now incurring," the report said.
