A Brief Introduction About the Co Management Agreement
Whether you are the hospital owner or you are working as a physician, this agreement is beneficial for both the parties in a certain way. There are many physicians who have started opting for a partnership with the hospital, and this is termed as co-management. It helps the physician to govern hospital services and also supports the practices of other doctors. This co-management agreement is beneficial for both hospitals and physicians.
Who Takes a Co Management Agreement?
This agreement is signed between the physicians and the hospital. This agreement is best for the physicians to stay in the development of the service line that includes Staffing and personnel, Operations support, Quality improvement, New program development, financial planning, and reporting. and it is being done to set up a better stage for the health management of the people. Careful implementation and preparation can help to get successful deals.
Before starting any co-management task, doctors need to familiarize themselves with the co management agreements. These agreements must assign management duties to either one or more than one physician of the hospital.
Purpose of the Co Management Agreement
This agreement basically helps the hospitals to get benefitted as they can focus on patient care along with improvement in other areas. This way, physicians can handle patients and experiences much better. In this way, patients are benefitted and also the reputation of the hospital.
However, if the hospital staff is low, then these agreements won’t work properly. This agreement can lead to the development of hospitals and also the medical field overall. That’s why this agreement should be used by as many hospitals and physicians as possible in modern times.
Contents of the Co Management Agreement
The contents ideally include
- Metrics: This should be finalized, and targets should be selected, and it should be mentioned in the agreement.
- The payable duties: This should be established effectively in the agreement. The basic fee would be determined by the working hours, and that’s why guidelines should be mentioned for the payable duties. The clinical responsibilities don’t include paid duties.
- The compensation structure: It should be determined before anything begins. Incentive range can vary from 30% to 70% of full value.
The terms which are added in the agreement should be compliant with a market value in a fair manner.
How to Draft the Co Management Agreement?
It is quite easy to draft the agreement. You can also take the help of a lawyer. It is crucial that legal drafts are made so that both parties can fulfill their duties.
- Mention the duty of the hospital that all physicians have proper resources to work on the improvement of inpatient care.
- Include an incentive pay should be dependent on metrics achievement.
- Include a reliable procedure to do this work. The working hours of the physician should be calculated to avoid any compliance and regulatory issues in the future.
- Risk mitigation clauses such as limitation of liability and indemnity should be included.
- Include a transparent and reliable process for collecting and analyzing the required data. The physicians must understand and trust the process.
- Participation in and with the expansion of clinical outcomes, care strategies, and in-service education should be written in detail.
The physicians can negotiate on their incentives even after the agreement has been made. If they work harder for patient care and improvements, then they can ask for higher pay. Now, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the hospital would listen to the demands of the physician because the hospital is not bound to follow the rules outside the agreement.
Benefits and Drawbacks of the Co Management Agreement
With this agreement, hospitals are able to get benefitted, and also own most of the insurance and financial responsibilities. They can focus on the patients’ care by emphasizing on the improvements in treatments. The physicians are also able to consider their incentives in this agreement. They can also strike a balance between the control over the hospital and the financial security of the hospital. Also, they get good market value for their work, and they can easily earn good incentives under this agreement.
However, due to a limited period, doctors are pushed to work hard to make more improvements in the medical field.
What Happens in Case of Violation?
In case of violation(1), the physician or the hospital authorities have to pay for it as written in the agreement. While defining the co-management agreement guidelines, the violation rules should be mentioned in the guidelines. It will help both parties to make the right decision in case of a violation of laws.
Co management agreements are new in the medical field, as standards are still developing on a regular basis. It requires both physicians and hospitals to follow regulatory guidelines so that a legal agreement is managed in an appropriate manner. You can take the help of the co management agreement template. The quality metrics of the agreement should be reasonable for the patients of the hospital, and it should be dependent on the national benchmarks. Both parties need to ensure that the pay is purely based on improvements in service and quality.