Physicians and hospitals are being both pushed and pulled together in new ways by a 
variety of market forces, including the development of accountable care organizations, increased employment of physicians by hospitals, the emergence of new payment mechanisms, and the need for physicians, physicians groups, hospitals and health care systems to deliver greater value.
The American Hospital Association (AHA), American Medical Association (AMA) and Health Affairs convened a dialogue among leading health policy experts and representatives from 10 innovative integrated delivery systems in October 2013 to expand the discussion on how care will be organized in the future to meet the goals of a more effective system. In follow up, in October 2014, the AHA and AMA held a smaller working group discussion to further develop the criteria to drive effective and successful new models of care based on integrated leadership.
Through these and further discussions, the AHA and AMA compiled six key principles for how this new relationship might be structured and maintained. The AHA shared the draft principles with its governance groups for input from the field. The revised principles were then approved by the boards of both the AHA and AMA.
The AHA will work with the AMA to develop tools and resources to advance the principles in the coming months.