Shedding light on current transformations in payment mechanisms and transparency of hospital performance data and prices, this volume of Advances in Health Care Management presents findings on hospital profitability, cost, and organizational structures. Divided into two sections: 'Reimbursement, Cost and Profitability' and 'The Move Towards Transparency', the chapters employ a variety of research methodologies to explore the impact of transformation in payment and debt structures, profitability, and horizontal or vertical integration on outcomes such as price, clinical outcomes, and health plan selection. The authors examine recent changes including the redesign of the U.S. health care system to achieve higher value, and the establishment of mechanisms that transform reimbursement models and promote consumerism through transparency of data. Additionally, the volume takes a look at the emerging trend of transparency between health care stakeholders such as patients, health care staff, hospitals, insurance companies, and the government, providing a valuable insight into how the future might look.

The mission of healthcare organizations has undergone a remarkable transformation from curing disease to caring for the well-being of populations. While health care policy has explored this domain before, notably in Health Maintenance Organizations, the current efforts to create Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs) and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) represent a broader effort to move organizational responsibilities towards population health and care management. Volume 16 of AHCM presents papers that explore this topic across various levels of the healthcare system and employing multiple research designs including case studies, theoretical pieces, secondary data analyses, survey research and qualitative methodologies. Aspects of health care organization discussed in this volume include the PCMH, ACOs, integration with the public health and mental health systems, hospital-physician alignment, and resource planning. Population health management is presented as a factor driving these organizational changes and as a mechanism to facilitate this change.