ABSTRACT
Hospital-physician alignment is essential to improving health care quality and delivering STEEEP care. In 1994, BHCS established the HealthTexas Provider Network (HTPN), a physician network provider organization, as a step toward becoming an integrated health care delivery system. HTPN is a single-member 501(a) physician organization (with BHCS as the single member), formed under the Texas Medical Practice Act’s exception to the state’s prohibition on the corporate practice of medicine for certified organizations whose organizers, board, and executive leaders are physicians.1 In the 19 years since its inception, HTPN has built its reputation as a high-quality, physician-led and patient-centered organization with extensive expertise in practice management and a strong code of conduct for its physicians and employees. In 2013, HTPN comprises 68 primary care centers and 129 specialty-care centers that include: 9 physiatric medicine centers, 7 hospitalist programs, 3 pulmonary
critical care units, 13 liver disease outreach clinics, 3 advanced heart failure clinics, 3 senior health centers, 31 cardiovascular care sites, 4 computerized tomography centers, 1 magnetic resonance imaging center, and a family practice residency program.2
