Last week I sent a survey to the Physician Leaders on our mailing list, asking personal questions about your values, goals, stresses and satisfaction with your leadership role.
Here are the responses of 22 who responded - offering us a first-person perspective on what it's like to be a physician leader in these challenging times.
WHAT DID THEY SAY?
Click on any question below to be taken to the collectivecresponses for that question:GIVE US YOUR RESPONSES:
Here's the link to answer the survey questions for yourself:
>> Uplevel Your Skills and Influence as a Physician Leader <<
Learn how to build true influence in the C-suite
How to avoid the Darth Vader comparisons from your colleagues
Stop the overwhelm and lead with power and precision
Use THIS LINK for a quick Discovery Connection
Click on any question to be taken to the responses for that question:
What is the title of your leadership position?
How long have you been in this position?
Do you have protected time for your leadership activities?
Are you paid for your leadership activities?
If you are paid, How does your pay for leadership compare to your pay for seeing patients?
What personal values do you bring to your leadership position?
What is most important to you in this role?What organizational values is your leadership position tasked to steward and uphold?
What values does your position ensure that the organization keeps in mind?What leadership accomplishment are you most proud of?
What's your biggest personal stressor in your leadership position?
What makes it frustrating or difficult?What is your level of satisfaction with your role in this leadership position?
What issues make it difficult to achieve your goals as a leader?
Why is what you do in your leadership position critical to patients getting the care they need?
What is the title of your leadership position?
Director of Engagement
Hand Surgery Division Co-Director
Medical Lead
Fellowship Director
Medical Director for Clinician Well-being
Medical director
Practice medical director
Physician development coach
Oncology director
Specialty Doctor
Medical Director-Value Based Programs and Payer Contracts
Front line worker bee. Well being representative
Section Chief of Pediatric Orthopedic division
CMO & core faculty for FP Residency
president of medical staff, chief of department
Associate medical director
Founder, CEO, and Chief Health Officer
Medical Director
Medical director
Head of Global Medical, Clinical, and Safety. I now work in Industry.
Program Medical Director
Medical director
What personal values do you bring to your leadership position? What is most important to you in this role?
Caring for wellness of fellow clinicians
Understanding priorities of frontline primary care clinicians
Transparency
Facilitating two way communication between clinicians and leadership
Professional Experience with academic fellowship program
Experience, balance and I hope wisdom
Educating is a personal mission of mine
Honesty, integrity, dignity .
Creating an ergonomic, safe, and best practice workplace with the goal of high quality/efficient care, happy/healthy staff, and happy/healthy patients. "
Get it done attitude and following through on tasks
Servant leadership
focus, clarity, humor, humility
Attention to detail. Experience. Deep domain expertise. Compassion. Zero formal
Training.
Expansion, Limitlessness, Bliss
Aim for practice transformation to support patients and clinicians with increased,more coordinated services. Get better pay for front line family physicians based on leading team based care and quality improvements.
My son is in med school. I need to do what i can to right the ship
Understanding surgical quality, national leadership involvement. Important to being a voice for our section
Shared vision of compassion & quality
trying to keep administration running straight
Service
Authenticity and integrity
Growth mindset, adaptability, trauma-informed care, nervous system regulation, self-awareness, efficiency, value, excellence, innovation
Appreciating the staff. Showing respect to each worker. Listening to them.
I champion the patient, but I also champion the healthcare providers, looking to improve the lives of them all.
Professionalism, Kindness, organization
Honesty, patient focused services, Quality and reduce administrative burden. Empowerment of physician for enjoying the practice
What organizational values is your leadership position tasked to steward and uphold? What values does your position ensure that the organization keeps in mind?
Same as above
Promoting joy in practice
Hand surgery value for the practice (first) and for the community (second).
Equity
Education is a stated mission of my institution
Compassion, faith, excellence.
Same for both directions. "
Value based care , patient centered care
provider wellness
Keep patient care at the forefront.
Empowerment, Integrity, Trust, Respect, Care
Same as above,as well as clinician and staff wellness
Quadruple aim which is impossible and becoming contrary to our oath to patients
I don't feel they understand the value of surgical practices within their children's hospital and organization
Sustained growth & quality
mainly to keep due process a priority for the medical staff, in my department to make sure we have quality and safe treatment
Affordability, patient (member) experience, patient safety.
To exceed expectations as a servant leader
Same as above
Quality. Reliability.
We have company values and a mission statement. These include helping people with (the treated condition) live their best lives.
Community
Empowerment, communication skills, humility in service. Hunger for knowledge
What's your biggest personal stressor in your leadership position? What makes it frustrating or difficult?
Inadequate support staff to allow me to offload tasks (akin to not being able to work top of license when seeing pts)
Third party/payor interference with recommended treatments
Lack of feedback; change is SO slow despite an obvious need for it
Not supported by my dept chair
Not enough time for 1.0 FTE clinical staff and wellbeing.
time to get stuff done,
Lack of two sided communication from administration
none
President of group gaslights any issue we have. Told to ask for what we need then yelled at for asking too much or for objecting when system issues lead to errors or quality disruptions.
Not being able to do what I want to do due to constraints of other job roles
"Not having enough IT support to efficiently accomplish EHR programming changes for best success 8k VBC . Everything takes many months to accomplish.
Sometimes clinicians voicing burnout stress and finding our VBC initiatives hard to add on in a full day. Constantly working to illustrate how a different payment model should help them sustain a longer career and avoid feeling need to leave practice of medicine "
Status leveling burden. Not being believed
Having a revolving door of administrators who try to repeat failed decisions of their predecessors
Limited voice with CFO
having my admin time actually blocked
There is much more work to be done that there is time to do it. So many meetings telling me what to do but little time to do it.
I can sometimes prevent me from spending the time I want to use to more personally rewarding ways, to do Tukkun Olam
Lack of dedicated paid time
No blocked out time for meetings or any leadership duties. Completely siloed / agnostic peers.
Budget restrictions and too few people.
Pushback from providers
The lack of humility of other members and how they try to be over members every time they can.
What issues make it difficult to achieve your goals as a leader?
Lack of support staff
Occasional oblivion towards specific upper extremity problems on part of the other partners
Lack of communication between those of us “on the ground” snd those eho can make things happen
No support from my chair
Culture change is never easy.
lack of staff, lack of funding
Do not feel like higher level management is listening
none
Zero support. Repeatedly cut off at the knees.
Constraints from other roles and menial jobs
Payers keep attempting to rachet down care coordination payments, which defeats the role of VBC. Not sure payers really believe in changing payment model to support primary care, though it is one way for them to make more money too,and keep patients satisfied and healthier
Lack of a voice and means to make meaningful chay
No connection on shared goals
Barriers to efficiency -poor team communication
the painful bureaucracy of our administrators, they are "no" people not "yes" people
Continuous change, erosion of physician/PA autonomy and I am the one who has to implement it with very little say in the changes or implementation
Not soliciting the opinionss of d
Lack of dedicated paid time
"Having the dedicated time for this role.
Repeatedly asking administration for resources or personnel. Then asking for the same thing 2 months later. Cycles... repeat"
Resource (money and people) limitations, company/legal/FDA rules that need to be considered
Money, Regulations, burned out providers
Leaders above me and burocracy
Why is what you do in your leadership position critical to patients getting the care they need?
Getting everyone swimming in same direction allows us to maximize use of optimal processes designed to increase efficiency, reduce burnout and increase joy of practice
I hold a monthly joint journal club for the hand PAs, the hand therapists, and for my hand surgery partner.
I advocate tirelessly
Helps train EMS medical directors, which improves care in the EMS system
Happy efficient providers at all levels are safer and better.
standardizing things so that all patients get the same experience
Patient advocate
helping clinicians function well
Solve system and quality problems. Architect and execute quality workflow.
Creating empowered, uplifted workforce for care provision
We support high risk,complex patients with extra caregivers and resources. Making their health care journey easier and more successful for them and their families
Empowering physicians to lead lessens distress and empowers them to make decisions with patients instead of admin and insurance
Being an advocate
Protecting provider and patient voice
more control over how things are handled. The goal of the huge organization seems to be to standardize all interactions including hiring, firing, and raises. Everyone deserves a raise (mainly nurses and techs) are hugely under paid. My awesome medical office assistant does the work for 2 people and got a $0.72 an hour raise when she wanted a couple dollars. They (admin) are saying no to the couple bucks and they are crazy because they will lose someone! I can make back the cash to pay her with a few new patients given how much my technical productivity pays the hospital
I need to help my team to continue to see patients safely and without burning out.
To inspire trust
Giving direction to the team about the mission of our organization
Streamline services. Quicker turnaround times.
I am one of only a few with direct patient care experience in the company. I represent the interests of patients to people with no medical knowledge.
Alignment with Nursing and ancillaries
I offer info and strategies to IPAs and PMGs to improve patient care and access
What role do you play. in this leadership position, in optimizing the health and well-being of the physicians and staff?
Open forum to hear and address concerns
Leading by example - exercising regularly, smart food choices for meal at those conferences, starting and concluding the meetings on time.
I support others a lot
Just keeping an eye on my fellows’ health and well being, but don’t have any influence over the system we work in
My group is not so directed at physical and mental health per se. We work toward changing corporate culture which hopefully augments overall health.
none
Employee advocacy
physician development and leadership coach
Who knows. We are struggling and losing staff because the president of the group has changed comp structure for APPs then yelled at them when ask questions about it. Nurses have left for higher pay elsewhere.
Leading conversations and trainings
Bringing reality to administrators discussions and understanding of challenges of practice on front line. Questioning and negotiating best arrangements for our health system practice group,with payers and within health system
I try to improve conditions in the im department. Address distress and report to the welbeing council
None
"Active role -but need more momentum
Hopeful with new senior leadership team ."
mainly as president I make sure due process is followed with administrative issues for the medical staff -- policies are practical and vetted and due process for bad behavior are followed.
I take it seriously but I have very little power. I have a little money to spend. I try to help by caring and listening and doing what little I can.
Culture building activities, knowing what is going on for everyone, listening to needs/feedback, creating new processes, binding agentN/A
Overall ensuring smooth operations and seamless delivery of services to patients.
I am one of only a few with direct patient care and private practice experience in the company. I represent the interests of the healthcare team to people with no medical knowledge.
It is part of my job description
Promotion of well being, recognizing our vulnerability. How to reduce administrative burden being more effective. Joy of the practice and the importance of free time
What's one thing you'd like to accomplish as a leader that you have found difficult or impossible to achieve?
Nothing yet
Spend enough time with some patients and get paid for it!
Getting changes done
Self defense training for faculty and residents
Haven’t found anything like that yet. I just think a little more about the tough stuff. There is usually a way.
work life balance for everyone
Increasing primary care recruitment
Making decisions for our department. Oncology in urology group and leader makes decisions as if we were urology.
Creating powerful programs that everyone can attend
"Consistent staffing in clinician and practice staff at all sites. Constant challenges with Human Resources.
Add more pharmacy and behavioral health staff to our teams too."
Implement physician led teams
Having more of a physician voice in leadership decisions
Assist with more rapid credentialing & salary changes
actually have more control. as a leader you have more responsibility and less control. as a clinician I at least have a modicum of control over my patients treatment.
Give back or protect autonomy of the docs and pa’s.
Absorption rate: there is a critical hiring or onboarding ratio that the team can absorb and change people’s mindset coming from a broken system so that new habits and thoughts and emotions are formed about work.
Finding more time to spend on it. Getting more personnel. More personnel cross trained.
Change our color- coding to match what has now become standard, but differs. Everyone at the company recognizes this is desired, but the effort and expense this change would entail make it essentially impossible.
Provider engagement
I would like to have more access to my colleagues and help them.
What is one skill you would like to develop or improve that would help you be more effective, or get more satisfaction as a physician leader?
Delegating tasks to others and not doing it all myself
To be more emphathetic!!!
Be more dispassionate and more effective. Emotions don’t go over well
Learn how to more effectively lead up my chain of command
Probably learn more about business side so that I can relate to admin folks better.
group coaching
"Formal
Leadership training. How to execute on decisions. "
Storytelling
More facility with data analytics,( though just ability to hire more analysts for large data sets of patient quality and utilization would also suffice)
Change management
Handling difficult conversations without frustration
Improve negotiation skills in a business like fashion
how to deal with admin better. how to help them see it from my eyes. have them see how bogus their thought process is and how they are missing the big picture.
Boundaries
Communication
Working on difficult conversations.
More knowledge about hours to run a business (budgets, corporate structures, etc.)
Ability to communicate the why in a way that lands with providers
There is a lot to do. And be more assertive on interventions.
What leadership accomplishment are you most proud of?
High levels of participation in meetings
Improvement in NPS over time
Fostering a climate of professional excellence and cooperation with our occupational/hand therapists
Different approach to desling with difficultues
State award for leadership and service in EMS
Bringing the requests of the teammates for leader rounding to the Csuite. This resulted in the creation of a formal leader rounding program.
organizing the cliic and labeling where stuff is so physicians and staff can find things
Loving on my employees and caring for patients in trying times.
building a coaching program internally
Growing our department in culture of scarcity. And I’m about to leave because zero support.
Creating relationships in the workplace (which Daniel Goleman's Leadership course specifies as the key factor in organizational success)
1)Obtaining infrastructure improvements to support VBC ,with practice based pop health nurses and social workers, behavioral health support and a little pharmacy support( still need more of that) 2) Providing family physicians and APNs PAs with sizeable VBC incentive checks for value based program payments, at year end( usually based on previous year performance)
Running IM well being committee starting onboarding program mentoring program. And changing trajectory of our committee
Taking excellent care of patients
Starting residency/ desk top coverage for Team
expanding access to high tech treatments in my department.
Piloting a project to improve communication and learning between physicians and physician assistants.
Finding the common ground and leading between opposing forces
Team culture, collective growth mindset, buy in the mission
hospital quality recognition awards.
Bringing in my 28 years of experience in direct outpatient care to improve our products for both patients and Healthcare professionals. Often, these are simple things, like language, page layout, or workflow improvements.
Adapting patient flow to the realities of ED Boarding
Humility for service
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT
What did you learn from these responses?
What additional questions would you propose?
Does this inspire you to take on a new leadership role?