Strengthen Physician Alignment & Performance
Design and optimize physician affiliation strategies that improve alignment, enhance performance, and support sustainable growth across employed and independent provider networks.
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When Affiliation Strategies Don’t Deliver Expected Value
Health care organizations rely on a mix of employed and affiliated physicians to expand access, support service lines, and drive growth. But without a clear strategy, affiliation models can create fragmentation, inconsistent performance, and misaligned incentives.
As reimbursement shifts, competition intensifies, and care delivery models evolve, organizations must ensure their investments in physician affiliations are delivering value—both operationally and financially.
Where Struggles Arise
Aligning physicians and health system priorities
Optimizing performance across service lines
Ensuring financial sustainability of affiliation arrangements
Maintaining consistency across employed and independent providers
Partnering with SullivanCotter
A More Disciplined Approach to Physician Affiliation and Performance
SullivanCotter helps health care organizations assess, design, and optimize physician affiliation strategies to strengthen alignment, improve performance, and maximize return on investment.
We bring together deep expertise in physician compensation, workforce strategy, and performance alignment to ensure affiliation models are not only structured effectively—but also operate as intended.
Partnering to Drive Performance
Align employed and affiliated physicians around shared goals
Improve productivity, engagement, and care delivery performance
Strengthen financial and operational outcomes
Support evolving care models and value-based initiatives
How We Help
Evaluate current affiliation models and design the right structure to support organizational goals, market needs, and physician alignment.
Key services:
Affiliation Strategy & Model Design
Assess and design affiliation models—from professional services agreements to joint ventures and employment—to align with organizational goals and market dynamics.
Pre-Affiliation Due Diligence
Evaluate market demand, workforce needs, and financial implications to support informed affiliation decisions.
Workforce Planning Integration
Align affiliation strategies with provider supply and demand, service line priorities, and long-term workforce plans.
Ensure affiliation arrangements are supported by clear expectations, aligned incentives, and sound governance structures.
Key services:
Compensation Alignment
Design compensation models that align with affiliation structures, performance expectations, and regulatory requirements.
Performance Expectations & Incentives
Define measurable performance expectations and align incentives across employed and affiliated physicians to support shared goals.
Governance & Oversight
Establish governance structures and processes to support accountability, oversight, and consistent execution.
Improve operational, financial, and clinical performance across medical groups and service lines.
Key services:
Performance Optimization
Assess physician productivity, staffing models, and operational workflows to identify improvement opportunities.
Service Line & Medical Group Performance
Strengthen performance across specialties and service lines to support growth, access, and financial outcomes.
Care Team & Workforce Optimization
Ensure physicians, APPs, and care teams are structured effectively and operating at the top of their roles.
Move from strategy to execution with structured implementation and ongoing performance management.
Key services:
Transaction & Implementation Support
Support negotiation, structuring, and implementation of affiliation arrangements.
Performance Monitoring & Improvement
Establish metrics, dashboards, and processes to track performance and drive continuous improvement.
Ongoing Advisory & Optimization
Provide ongoing support to refine affiliation strategies as market conditions and organizational priorities evolve.
Insight Spotlight
Optimizing Clinician Affiliation to Drive Strategy & Performance
A well-designed clinician affiliation strategy does more than define relationships—it aligns workforce supply and demand, connects incentives to performance, and supports service line growth. Organizations must take a deliberate, data-driven approach to selecting and managing affiliation models to ensure they are meeting both operational and financial expectations.
By aligning performance metrics and incentives across employed and independent physicians, organizations can create shared accountability and improve coordination across the enterprise—ensuring everyone is working toward common goals.
Read the ArticleJoint Venture & Shared Equity
Clinical Integration & Payer Contracting
Exclusive Foundation / PSA
Full Practice Integration / Employment
MSO
(Practice Mgmt)
Joint Managed Care
(with limited risk)
Specialty Institute / Service Line Co-Management
Telemedicine & Non-Medical Staff Referring Physicians
Traditional Hospital Independent Medical Staff
Physician Recruitment & Retention Support
Medical Directorship Services
Data That Informs Physician Affiliation Decisions
SullivanCotter’s industry-leading compensation, productivity, and workforce surveys provide the data needed to evaluate affiliation models, benchmark performance, and align physician incentives with organizational priorities.
Pulse on the Industry
Stay current with SullivanCotter’s latest insights on physician alignment, affiliation
strategy, compensation design, and clinical workforce performance.
Let’s Architect Your Solution
Ready to strengthen physician alignment and optimize affiliation strategies? SullivanCotter helps organizations design, implement, and sustain affiliation models that support performance, growth, and long-term success.
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