The Five Questions of Physician Leadership

摘要

Physician leadership is widely considered to be essential for success in next-era healthcare systems. This message elicits a variety of responses from healthcare insiders, ranging from antipathy to fear, from resignation to anticipation. Views differ depending on personal experiences and biases, how leadership is defined, and how individuals believe their own career trajectories will be affected by possible shifts in power and influence. All of these reactions to change are normal. The perception seems to be widespread that moving to physician leadership will require major adjustments to relationships between physicians and hospital executives. Some consumers are bemused: "Haven't doctors always been in charge?" However, we in healthcare see the prospect of medical professionals becoming organization leaders as something new, requiring solid planning and use of change management skills. In this issue of Frontiers of Health Services Management, the authors of the two feature articles share their thoughts on physician leadership and describe their organizations' efforts in this area. I review their programs from the perspective of the questions that must be addressed to create lasting transformation: why, what, how, who, and when.