Background: Patient safety is an important aspect of quality of care. Physicians' alignment with hospitals by means of financial integration may possibly help hospitals achieve their quality goals. Most research examines the effects of financial integration on financial performance. There is a need to understand whether financial integration has an effect on quality and safety.
Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the association between hospital physician financial integration (employment, joint ventures, and ownership) and Adverse Incident Rate.Methodology: A longitudinal panel study design was used. A random effects model with hospital, year, and state effects was used. Our sample contained 3,528 hospitals observations within U.S. from 2013-2015.
Findings: Contrary to our hypotheses, hospital physician financial integration does not influence AIR. Besides financial integration, hospitals need to have a high commitment towards quality and safety to influence a lower AIR.
Keywords: financial integration; patient safety; physicians.