Joint ventures in health care: what to do before you do the deal.

To be successful, a hospital-physician joint venture must be guided by a strategy that includes a coherent business strategy, an orientation to the specific needs of the potential physician participants, a bias towards closure, and a rigorous process for evaluating, structuring, and implementing transactions. This article focuses on the last characteristic of the strategy--a process for evaluation, structuring, and implementation. Such a process will establish the basic viability of the project, give direction to the approach, provide a fundamental understanding of the transaction, and create an overall businesslike attitude.