Mike LaPenna brings an important perspective to a key shift in the structure of health care. Providers, payers, employers, and patients are greatly impacted by this shift from relative independence to integration, which has critical implications to the cost and quality of health care as we know it today.—Larry Boress, President and CEO, Midwest Business Group on HealthThere is no more complex administrative environment than health care and no time when it has been more confusing and challenging. Mr. La Penna has outlined several of the models and structures that go well beyond the traditional medical staff relationships. His book is recommended reading for the practitioner, the administrator, and board level stakeholders as they contemplate how to work together in the new health care environment. —Robert Harrison, MHA, PhD, President, Lake Michigan College and Former President of the Michigan Hospital Association After 25 years of my seeking Michael LaPenna's counsel and direction in half a dozen different medical practice venues and models, I have learned to appreciate his incisiveness, his conciseness, his analytical skills, his wisdom, and his dry humor. A survey of the 21 chapter titles gives a good clue to the superb information in this contemporary and masterful book.—George O.Waring III MD FACS, FRCOphth, Professor of Ophthalmology, Emeritus, Emory University; Private Clinical Practice, Atlanta, GeorgiaMike LaPenna is the consummate medical staff business consultant. His impressive depth of knowledge coupled with his common sense approach has led to successful resolution of a broad array of issues we have faced in managing the business organization, compensation, and management of our physicians and their practices. His words of wisdom and advice regarding physician integration are welcome in this turbulent time of reform and aggregation of health care entities.—Susan Mendelowitz, RN FACHE, President and COO, Bergen Regional Medical Center, Paramus, New Jersey—Paul C. Mendelowitz, MD, MPH, Former Chief Medical Officer, Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck, New JerseyNo health care environment is tougher than New York. When change occurs, it is rapid and dramatic. We look to experts who have a proven track record of managing change, Mike La Penna assisted us with the development of an IPA that numbered over 5,000 providers and a dozen institutions at a time when managed care first emerged. He fashioned the governance as well as the value proposition for all of the stakeholders. I welcome any book that captures his expertise and experience.—Dr. Anthony J. Gagliardi, M.D., Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, and Charter Trustee of SERVITAS IPA of Greater New YorkIn this time of turmoil and turbulence in relations between hospitals and their medical staff members and with all the different models emerging, it is a help to have a concise review of the options along with practical examples of structure and governance and income distribution. This book is a primer on how hospitals and doctors can find common ground to move from independence to collaboration to some level of true integration.—Ahmed Abdelsalam, MD, FACS, Managing Partner, Chicagoland Retinal Consultants, LLCIn the process of working in clinical and administrative medical positions for decades, I have had the pleasure of doing a number of joint projects with Mr. La Penna and his team. I am enthused to see that the experience and insight of his years of consulting in the hospital-physician ecosystem have finally made it into print. Anyone who is working with physician transactions will find some solace in knowing that some of us have been there before! This book suggests a number of ways to improve the reader's chances of succeeding in the very complex world of the new medical staff.—William Cunningham, D.O., M.H.A., Assistant Dean College of Osteopathic Medicine, Michigan State University