There is no more “business as usual” in healthcare. Change and innovation characterize the dramatic paradigm shift in the healthcare industry as physicians focus on balancing quality and costs. Past volume-based provider payments are quickly being replaced by value-based incentive models.Our changing and complex industry will require more collaborative care from multidiscipline provider teams – a dramatic shift from the physician-as-lone-practitioner model of past decades. Navigating in these uncertain times of change requires physicians who can effectively lead teams and who possess the necessary skills to be true change agents. Physicians often are called upon to be leaders as .jpg)
department chairs in medical schools or academic medical centers, building their private practices, or managing large physician groups. But formal medical school education does not prepare physicians for roles that require them to lead others. Instead they have been trained to be “autonomous thinkers.” For example, Stoller (2004) suggested that certain aspects of medical school training work against physicians developing leadership traits. In the traditional model, physicians are extensively evaluated based on individual performance (e.g., board certifications, competition for training slots, etc.) rather than on group or team-based performance.
department chairs in medical schools or academic medical centers, building their private practices, or managing large physician groups. But formal medical school education does not prepare physicians for roles that require them to lead others. Instead they have been trained to be “autonomous thinkers.” For example, Stoller (2004) suggested that certain aspects of medical school training work against physicians developing leadership traits. In the traditional model, physicians are extensively evaluated based on individual performance (e.g., board certifications, competition for training slots, etc.) rather than on group or team-based performance.As in many other fields, health care leadership shares three distinguishing factors for success that are important for every leader: Gaining greater self-awareness (who I am); Understanding who we are (the team); and providing vision for where we are going (leading change). Using a multidisciplinary, evidence-based management approach, the Physician Leaders Program (PLP) offered by FIU’s Center for Leadership in collaboration with the College of Medicine, equips physicians, whether working in a large integrated delivery system, a hospital, a large multispecialty physician group, or a small physician practice, to effectively lead themselves, lead their teams, and lead change in their organizations. By acquiring this new knowledge and skill set, physicians, as tomorrow’s leaders, are well-equipped to meet the demands of and capture the opportunities in our new healthcare environment.
Almost all of the challenges currently faced by healthcare organizations require physician leadership to allow the firm to move forward – such as, meeting meaningful use requirements, ICD-10 migration or developing and/or participating in an accountable care organization (ACO). Yet only a handful of physicians have stepped up to take on these needed leadership roles. This is due, in part, to the physician’s belief that he/she lacks the necessary leadership competencies to be effective within the organization. But as we know, leadership can be learned. In FIU’s PLP, physicians learn the tangible skills to lead and manage change by working with and through others.
While change is difficult in any industry, healthcare offers a particularly difficult challenge because of its values-based traditional delivery methods. It is the task of physician leaders to effectively lead change in organizations by crafting an optimistic yet realistic vision of the future. Communicating that vision effectively is the task of the leader. It helps align teams and organizations to accept and drive change by providing context and purpose. Physician leaders must master the ability to thrive in times of change through tenacity and resilience. In such a fast changing environment, failure and mistakes will happen. Leaders must be prepared to fail, regroup, and start again – this is the core of leadership. In a recent survey of 4,000 physicians and healthcare executives, courage and constancy of purpose were included in the top seven attributes of behavioral core competencies for success. The other five were integrity, strategic perspective, leadership, motivating others, and teamwork and collaboration.
According to the 2013 HealthLeaders industry survey, only 2 percent of U.S. hospitals are currently led by physicians and less than 20 percent of hospitals’ senior leadership team include physicians. This startling statistic, however, is expected to change in the very near future as a result of national health reform initiatives. Physicians, therefore, must be prepared to take on these new leadership roles.
The first and most important step for future physician-leaders is gaining a greater self-awareness of him/herself. Self-awareness is the key factor in transforming practitioners into leaders by acquiring a deeper understanding of what motivates them and influences their decisions. As noted earlier, the life-impact of medical practice and training in medical schools is often counterintuitive for physicians’ development of self-awareness skills. The second step is developing the skills needed to lead high-performing multidiscipline teams for healthcare delivery in the 21st century. The third step is for the physician-leader to develop a system-view perspective. Performance measures and quality reporting matrixes are changing the way health services are delivered. Most definitely a change from past practices!
With the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), healthcare delivery will be dramatically different. The call is for more physicians to move into leadership roles for guiding the industry in balancing cost-containment and quality of care. Physicians who are well equipped with the most salient leadership tools will be the vanguard of change. This new knowledge and skill set will ensure physicians are the leaders and change-agents in their organizations, whether in a health system, hospital, or group practice.
