Physicians' new position.

• Position: NC TREND: Triad Region

Hospitals continue to gobble up physician practices, a trend that accelerated with wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's planned purchase of High Point-based Cornerstone Health Care, the state's biggest doctor-owned medical group ("Docs on the block," July 2014). Officials of both groups declined to discuss terms of the transaction, which will add 80 offices and more than 300 doctors to the 12,000-employee workforce. Grace Terrell and John McConnell, who head Cornerstone and Wake Forest Baptist, respectively, pledged to be pioneers "in valued-based care delivery, providing exceptional health care quality while reducing costs."

Cornerstone has a reputation for excellence, with the federal Medicare program last year ranking it the sixth-best accountable-care organization based on various quality measures. But the trend toward paying medical bills based on outcomes, rather than per treatment, and increased costs of technology and compliance with health care reform is driving thousands of North Carolina doctors into the financially sheltering arms of large health care systems. The hospitals say an integrated, data-driven network can glean best practices, reduce costs and improve quality. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services "has a goal that 30% of Medicare payments will be of the alternative model this year and 50% in 2018," says David Meyer, senior partner of...