Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Data/Lists
    • Rankings/Lists
    • Interactive Databases
    • Data Points
  • Op-Ed
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Awards
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
    • Women in Healthcare
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
    • - Leaders to Watch
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Women Leaders
    • - Women to Watch
  • Events
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Transformation Summit
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Strategic Marketing
    • - Virtual Health
  • Listen
    • Podcast - Next Up
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • MORE +
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Providers
May 10, 2014 01:00 AM

Hospitals hire more doctors as CEOs as focus on quality grows

Andis Robeznieks
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Montefiore President and CEO Dr. Steven Safyer, ranked No. 35, argues that having more doctors and nurses in leadership positions is a positive thing.

    With record-high turnover among hospital CEOs last year and an intensifying focus on clinical quality, a growing number of healthcare organizations are appointing physicians to their top executive positions, experts say.

    The trend “is being driven by the need for hospital and health systems to have closer alignment and the recognition that future success will rely on changing the design in which healthcare is delivered,” said Dr. Andrew Ziskind, managing director at Chicago-based Huron Healthcare and former president of Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

    While only 5% of hospitals are led by a doctor, according to the American College of Physician Executives, some of the most prominent systems in the country have physician CEOs, including Dr. Steven Corwin at New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell (No. 17 on Modern Healthcare's 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders list); Dr. Toby Cosgrove, CEO the Cleveland Clinic (No. 10); Dr. David Feinberg, president of the UCLA Health System (No. 49); Dr. John Noseworthy, president and CEO of the Mayo Clinic (No. 2); Dr. Paul Rothman, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Dr. Peter Slavin, president of Massachusetts General Hospital (No. 46).

    Related content

    Modern Healthcare 50 Most Influential Physician Executives

    Read more about this year's class of the 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders

    View a photo gallery of this year's 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders

    50 Most Influential Physician Execs list topped by system leaders

    How the 50 Most Influential Physician Execs were chosen

    Medicare ACO architect Gilfillan leads changes at CHE Trinity

    50 Most Influential Physician Execs to be honored at gala

    More recently, Dr. Richard Gilfillan, No. 1 on the Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders list for 2014, was named president and CEO at 82-hospital CHE Trinity Health. Dr. Mark Keroack took over as CEO of the Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass. Dr. Ram Raju (No. 29) just became CEO of New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. Dr. John Jay Shannon succeeded Raju at the Cook County Health & Hospitals System, Chicago. And Dr. Stuart Marcus became the new president and CEO of St. Vincent's Health Services, Bridgeport, Conn.

    Physicians also are being chosen to lead major non-clinical organizations. Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann (No. 13), former chancellor of the University of California at San Francisco, was appointed CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Jim Yong Kim left his post as Dartmouth College president to become president of the World Bank in 2012.

    Physicians see top management positions as a powerful perch for leading the drive for improved quality of care, patient safety and clinical efficiency, said Dr. Gary Gottlieb, president and CEO of Partners HealthCare in Boston, who is No. 11 on the Most Influential list and is the only person to make the list all 10 years of its existence. “Physicians are pursuing management roles to a greater degree than before,” he said. “They get the bug because they realize how they can make things better.”

    One advantage is that physician executives often have greater credibility with clinicians than nonphysician administrators on clinical issues.

    The American College of Physician Executives, which helps groom doctors for management and leadership roles, published a white paper in April titled, “The Value of Physician Leadership,” explaining some of the reasons for the rise of physician executives. The redesign of clinical-care models aligning payment with clinical excellence and improved outcomes puts physicians “at the center of this stage,” according to the paper, which was co-written by ACPE President and CEO Dr. Peter Angood (No. 30) and Susan Birk. “Physician leadership is critical to shepherd healthcare into the future, creating a delivery system grounded in better health and better healthcare at lower cost.”

    MH Takeaways

    While physicians traditionally avoided management positions, they now see top executive posts as a powerful perch for leading the drive to transform the healthcare system.

    Traditionally, physicians have tended to be disinterested in management and leadership roles. But that is changing, and physicians are applying and training for these positions in greater numbers.

    Dr. Gary Kaplan (No. 3), chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason Health System in Seattle, said historically, physicians saw administrators as “bean counters.” More physicians now are participating in leadership roles because they have opportunities to implement organizational change and vision, create clinical integration and design workflows, he said.

    While statistics on the overall number of physician executives are not available, Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, director of hospital performance improvement for the Washington-based Berkeley Research Group, said he sees more organizations appointing physician leaders.

    “There is no doubt this will be an accelerating phenomenon,” said Agwunobi, former CEO of Providence Healthcare in Spokane, Wash., and former CEO of Grady Health System in Atlanta.

    And there are now more opportunities for physicians to step into hospital leadership roles given that the American College of Healthcare Executives reported 20% turnover in hospital CEOs in 2013. That's the highest rate since the group started tracking this statistic in 1981.

    Kaplan said high CEO turnover could be at least partly due to nonphysician executives feeling overwhelmed by the challenging transition to value-based reimbursement, population health strategies and cost transparency. They might have been thinking, “This isn't what I signed up for,” he said.

    Having more physicians and nurses move into senior leadership positions is a good thing, argued Dr. Steven Safyer (No. 35), president and CEO of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Montefiore's other senior leaders include COO Dr. Philip Ozuah, senior vice president and chief of staff Lynn Richmond, a nurse practitioner, and Senior Vice President of Operations Susan Green-Lorenzen, a nurse. “The business of the business is medicine, and nurse leaders and physicians know the subject,” Safyer said.

    For people who intend from the start to be doctors serving in leadership roles, there has been significant growth in the number of academic programs combining M.D. and MBA degrees. Agwunobi, who has an MBA himself, said there are at least 65 such programs now.

    While more younger physicians receive business and leadership training early in their careers, Agwunobi urged hospitals and other organizations not to overlook older, entrepreneurial physicians as potential leaders. Doctors who ran and expanded their own practices have a lot to offer larger organizations in terms of management skills. “They were not just accomplished physicians, but accomplished business people as well,” he said.

    But Ziskind said there's one major pitfall that physician leaders need to keep in mind. “The essential character traits that made them a successful clinician are not necessarily the essential character traits that make an effective leader,” he said. “One of the mistakes physician leaders often make is applying the same 'I can do it' approach from clinical training.”

    New physician leaders need to change their mindset from achieving success as an individual to achieving success as a team. Still, he said, physicians “certainly understand what's needed to make changes in the way care is delivered.”

    Follow Andis Robeznieks on Twitter: @MHARobeznieks

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    CN_2021122p35_Smallhold Royal Trumpet Mushrooms 9.85_Buck Ennis_i.jpg
    Psychedelic therapy providers get creative as costs trip up patients
    Shafer Dr. David Shafer Clinic Botox cropped9.49.jpg
    A Botox boom for back-to-work
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare A.M. Newsletter: Sign up to receive a comprehensive weekday morning newsletter designed for busy healthcare executives who need the latest and most important healthcare news and analysis.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Data/Lists
      • Rankings/Lists
      • Interactive Databases
      • Data Points
    • Op-Ed
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Awards
      • Nominate/Eligibility
      • 100 Most Influential People
      • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
      • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
      • Excellence in Governance
      • Health Care Hall of Fame
      • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
      • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
      • Top 25 Innovators
      • Diversity in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
        • - Leaders to Watch
      • Women in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Women Leaders
        • - Women to Watch
    • Events
      • Conferences
        • Transformation Summit
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Leadership Symposium
      • Galas
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Strategic Marketing
        • - Virtual Health
      • Webinars
      • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Listen
      • Podcast - Next Up
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • MORE +
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing