"It’s not just talk about clinical integration ... you have to talk about what’s next around value-based contracting," said one consultant at the the HFMA National Institute this week. "If you do a better quality of care with a patient, you will reduce costs."

Reporting from the Healthcare Financial Management Association's 2015 Annual National Institute in Orlando on June 23, Healthcare Finance Associate Editor Susan Morse writes that consultants speaking at session there emphasized the criticality of keeping tabs on patients as they move through different care settings.

That's essential to helping healthcare organizations protect against financial risk as the shift from fee-for-service to value-based care continues in earnest, Morse writes; and as providers track patients across the care continuum, effective clinical integration will also help them drive efficiencies.

"The successful ones that are out there are building systems of care," Daniel Marino, senior vice president of The Camden Group. "Technology and analytics, connected with care will reduce redundancy and drive down cost."

Read Morse's full story at Healthcare Finance.