The relationship between hospitals and physicians is complex to say the least. What appears to be a seamlessly working relationship from the outside often feels more like a tangled web to those intertwined within the healthcare system.
You’ve been hyper-focused on physician engagement, and as healthcare finds its home in a value-based system, encouraging physician engagement is more important than ever. With that said, physician engagement isn’t the only piece of the puzzle when it comes to integrating physicians into your system, and one of the key pieces you might be missing is physician leadership development.
As hospitals work to bring more physician leaders into their organizations, they must remember this: it’s the hospital’s job to offer physician leadership development programs that allow these physicians to build upon their current competencies, and often times, these physicians–just like in any other professional role–might need some guidance growing into their roles as leaders.
It’s important to remember that being a good physician is not the same as being a good leader. If you’re thinking about implementing a physician leadership program into your organization–and we think you should!–here are just a few of our best tips for ensuring the program is beneficial for all.
- Gives physicians a wider leadership track.
Offer leadership development early–even as early as recruitment. Today’s physicians want to have a say, and hospitals have a need for leaders in all departments, at all levels. By developing physicians as leaders from the moment they’re hired, you’re not only giving them more mobility as they grow in your career, you’ll also prevent long gaps in leadership that your organization might otherwise face down the road.
- Allow physicians to help lead the value-based care model.
Healthcare isn’t moving to a value-based care system–we’re there. It’s important that physicians are trained as leaders in this system, with a vast understanding of the operations, patient safety and more.
- Not all leaders are natural-born leaders.
Just like in any other field, some physicians are leaders by nature, but not everyone is like that. The good news? Leadership skills can be–and often are–taught. By implementing a leadership development program for physicians, you’re giving aspiring leaders the chance to learn through education, mistakes and experiences.
Ready to create a physician leadership program? A Physician Advisory Council builds the platform to create alignment between the Medical Staff and Administrative leaders. The goal is to create a fully integrated organization where physicians are involved in the direction of the organization’s strategic focus.
To implement a PAC, COORS builds a customized toolbox, assists the CEO with branding the PAC and delivering the appropriate message and guides the formation of the group with targeted communication strategies and mentoring. COORS‘ mentors have extensive hospital executive leadership experience and will help you create trust with your medical staff.
