By: Anna Wilde Mathews and Melanie Evans
More primary-care doctors work directly for hospitals, and they are being pushed to keep lucrative referrals in-house.
Phoebe Putney Health System doesn’t want its doctors to send business to competitors. If they do, Phoebe makes sure their bosses know about it.
Doctors working for the Albany, Ga.-based hospital system’s affiliated physician group get regular reports breaking down their referrals to specialists or services. One viewed by The Wall Street Journal included cardiology, colonoscopies and speech therapy, along with the share of each referred to Phoebe health-care providers…