ABSTRACT
When studying the organization of healthcare delivery in the United States, it is important to understand the role of physicians and how that role plays out in the structure of delivery of care. Historically, and still today, physicians and hospitals have a special relationship. As discussed in Chapter 4, they are completely interdependent, yet they work under different business models. The way in which physicians are integrated into healthcare delivery is changing as they take on new and expanding roles in the hospital. While for more than half a century physicians have worked almost exclusively in their own private practices, holding medical staff privileges at local hospitals for admissions, they currently are found in increasing numbers in management roles and on hospital payrolls working as hospitalists, as intensivists, in office practices, and in other clinical areas. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are approximately 691,000 active doctors in clinical management, research, and other roles in the United States.
