President Obama has touted "staff models" like the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota that employ doctors and then succeed in reducing costs by closely managing what they do.
The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the California-based Kaiser Permanente system have shown that it is possible to save money and produce better outcomes at the same time.
Its list of well-heeled clients is made up of the upper echelons of health care: Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and almost the entire University of California system are among its 260 customers.