In the past, physician-held hospital leadership roles (such as Chief Medical Officer, Vice President of Medical Affairs, Department Chiefs and Medical Directors) typically revolved around medical staff operations, including the oversight of clinical research, medical education, case management and peer review. Physicians provided an essential clinical voice, but they weren't running the show.
Transforming clinical roles
But with the advent of healthcare reform, new titles have emerged for physician leaders to take on, increasing responsibilities beyond clinical practice. The 2013 Physician Executive Survey reports titles such as Chief Operations Officer, Chief Integration/Implementation Officer, Chief Administration Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Transformation Officer and many variations thereof.
As hospitals and health systems redefine their organizational structures and titles to address the growing complexity of healthcare, there may be confusion in defining the roles and responsibilities for these new positions.
No matter the specific titles, these roles will require physician leaders who can demonstrate their success and ability to develop and implement strategies in areas as diverse as population health management, clinical integration, quality outcomes and financial performance.
As executives, physicians are a member of the team - not always the leader. Physician leaders now must be able to communicate and navigate within the business world with a less hierarchal, more collaborative communication style.
Evolving administrative duties
The critical skill sets for physician leaders are evolving with the new era of healthcare. Though medical and quality management are still an important part of many physician leaders' roles, new duties and areas of responsibility identified by 2013 survey participants include:
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Stakeholder Engagement:
- Representing the organization to employees and staff (including both clinical and non-clinical), patients, community, donors, legislators, other providers and healthcare organizations.
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Human Capital:
- Managing physician and executive recruitment, retention, performance, compensation, orientation, education and training
- Developing and improving organizational culture.
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Transformation:
- Overseeing integration of multiple sites, disciplines and/or operation units
- Achieving physician alignment
- Developing new partnerships, alliances and collaboratives.
In such a revolutionary time, organizations are more focused than ever in identifying and cultivating candidates for top leadership positions, and as healthcare reform progresses, more and more of those leaders will be physicians.
As your organization moves forward, ask yourself: How can your resources be best used to identify and maximize the potential of physician leaders within and outside the organization?