Everyone interested in the future of health care watches Geisinger Health System to see how its innovations in health care payment and delivery are working.

Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, posted a blog entry based on a Philadelphia Inquirer article about policymakers’ interest in Geisinger. He posed an important question designed to tease out the system’s success:

Question: How much is due to the common bottom line between the MDs and the hospital, and how much is owning the insurance company? Also, how much of this is transferable to other settings that do not have the dominant market position enjoyed by Geisinger?