Physician engagement: What not to do

by Jonathan H. Burroughs Alignment of organization and physician interests depends upon successful physician engagement. Unfortunately, the traditional approaches of purchasing a physician practice or employing physicians have little, if anything, to do with alignment. Thus, it seems instructive to share a few insights as to how NOT to engage physicians. The following summarizes some key ways in which an organization can fail to engage physicians and lead to an unaligned environment with unnecessary conflict, division, strife and cost... Treat a physician as you would all physicians There is no such thing as physician "interests" any longer with so many fragmented and disparate interests based upon age, sex, demographics and personal preference. For instance, older physicians may seek long hours and high pay whereas younger Gen X/Y professionals may seek to optimally balance professional and personal life. Men may wish to front-load their professional careers whereas women may wish to better balance work/home early in their careers and focus more intensely on career advancement later when their children are grown. Some physicians are entrepreneurial and some are not, and therefore, there is a wide spectrum of tolerance for risk and investment. Some physicians are independent and some feel comfortable in organizational and hierarchical settings. Each physician should be treated as an individual with unique personal and professional needs and aggregating physicians...
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs