Physician Leaders: Who’s Next?
Physician Leadership – A Healthcare Essential With An Uncertain Future
Physician leaders are critical to ensuring that compassionate, quality care is available to all patients. Their education, training, and experience create a patient-focused, evidence-based perspective that is unique to seasoned medical professionals and stands in contrast to other disciplines. Baby boomers have been the mainstay of physician administration; their retirement is raising concerns as to who will fill these roles. Studies and anecdotal evidence indicate younger physicians may not have the same level of interest in becoming leaders.
A deeper look at the problem
Physicians generally want to excel at their fundamental pursuit; providing care. Managerial responsibilities are often seen as a distraction from that purpose. Assuming a leadership role requires peer management, dealing with complex personnel issues, spending time examining data rather than patients, in short: less time practicing medicine. Accepting an administrative role can be hard to balance with other physician and personal responsibilities. Professionals from other disciplines, such as business and finance, are frequently called upon to fill the need. Business professionals are vital to healthcare in their own right; however, physicians provide balance in areas such as patient and provider advocacy. When healthcare leadership strays too far from healthcare providers, patients, and providers will experience negative consequences.
Cultivating Physician Leaders
To ensure the best possible future for healthcare, responsible organizations must consider opportunities and strategies to cultivate the next generation of physician leaders. These include:
- Communicate the Necessity – Physicians need to see that without them, someone else will lead that is less likely to advocate for patient needs and physician interests
- Demonstrate the Alignment – Medicine as a career is founded in a desire to help people. Medical leaders have an opportunity to extend that help far beyond the patients a doctor can treat personally
- Emphasize the Impact – Policy, strategy, provider management, patient advocacy, and physician representation are just some of the opportunities available to medical leaders. Helping physicians see these as opportunities rather than burdens is key
- Provide Opportunity – Offering formal and informal roles at different tiers, with different responsibilities, as well as mentors to support physicians in these roles, is critical
- Meet Physicians Where They Are – Providing interested physicians with the opportunity to lead and make a difference with smaller investments of time, so they can gain experience and prepare for larger roles
STATUS & Physician Leadership
Mark Menadue, DO, JD, FACEP, FCLM, has owned and led STATUS (originally ACUTE CARE, INC.) for over 35 years. Physician leadership is integral to our identity. The Chief Medical Officer role is also central, overseeing site directors and providing a medical liaison to our Chief Operating Officer.
Site directors are increasingly important to the success of our hospital partners and the patients and communities we serve. The role of site director provides a first tier of formal physician leadership. For many physicians, site director responsibilities are a satisfying way to exercise nearly all of the disciplines of leadership in a community setting they are connected to, while also maintaining medical practice as their primary activity. For some physicians, this role is a first step towards larger medical officer responsibilities.
STATUS is proud to contribute to the development of medical leaders.
References
- Using the national provider identifier registry, we conducted a study to compare physicians’ self-reported credentials. Our results showed only 0.45% of physicians had MBA, MHA, MHBA, SFHM, B. Comm, or PGDHM leadership credentials.
- The Value of Physician Leadership – https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/the-value-of-physician-leadership-podcast-197/#:~:text=then%20lead%20it.%E2%80%9D-,Competence%20Is%20Important%20to%20Establish%20Credibility%20as%20a%20Leader,nobody%20will%20take%20us%20seriously.%E2%80%9D