HCFA pilot project may bolster hospital-physician collaboration.

A new HCFA pilot project will probe the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of paying hospitals and physicians one negotiated package fee for coronary artery bypass surgery. If successful, the pilot may be expanded to other procedures, ultimately forcing hospitals and physicians to seek new avenues of negotiation to determine how to split the lump-sum payments. Find out how the hospital executives in this project negotiated with their physicians.