Physician Leadership Part 1-Identify at least three challenges faced by physician leaders in their attempts to "lead" physicians toward a common vision of healthcare performance.

Part 2-Read the "Bankruptcy of Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation" (HERF) on page 368 of the course text. Select one of the board's practices. Identify and discuss the problems with the practice you have selected. Suggest ways the practice could be modified/changed in order to eliminate the problems you identified.

Physician Leadership

Part 1-Identify at least three challenges faced by physician leaders in their attempts to "lead" physicians toward a common vision of healthcare performance.

The development of physician leaders in the medical field is not only desired but is necessary. Numerous health care organizations now recognize that effective physician leadership is a primary factor in the success of organizations. Common assumptions exist that physicians are highly qualified to be effective leaders. However, years of education or the ability to attain a medical degree does not ensure the probability of being an effective physician leader. In general, the act of leading health care organizations is commonly construed as effective physician leadership. Physician leadership can also be perceived as the ability to manage patients' health care. With consideration to quality health care, effective physician leadership not only involves the quality of health care for the...

Physician leaders play an important role in the ongoing development of the health care system as well as future physician recruitment, training, and career development (Menaker & Bahn, 2008).
The three main challenges that the physician leaders face are fierce competition, escalating medical costs, and the demands for quality care. To cope with all these challenges the health care organizations must seek methods that will accomplish effective organizational leadership. Consequently, physician leadership behaviors are key elements in determining organizational effectiveness.

Effective physician leaders must also be able to fully comprehend the process of transforming organizational cultures. According to McAlearney (2005), the objective of the physician leaders should be "as much about changing cultural norms and beliefs as it is about understanding the difference between fixed and variable costs in a budget" (p. 12). Effective development of physician leaders should involve a process of transformational change (Kotter, 1996).

Physician leaders must have considerable elasticity for dealing with challenges that exist in the health care industry and come prepared to exercise expert skills in business as well as finance (Hartung & Fulkerson, 2006). Serio and Epperly (2006) maintained that it takes more than a physician leader with vision and exemplary IQ to effectively lead in health care. They considered…