Book Excerpt: Complete Guide to Physician Relationships

In the “other” category, respondents most frequently mentioned physician recruitment.

For most of the survey questions, there was more unity around the answers than for this one. The differences may be due to the level of in-hospital involvement, so we evaluated the data by primary care physicians (PCP) vs. specialists:

• Improving quality is the most important element to both PCPs and specialists; however, is it emphasized more by specialists
• PCPs are more likely to identify practice management/support than specialists

When survey respondents were asked to select one answer, 5% chose multiple answers—which may say something about their perception that one priority is not enough.

Today’s leaders have a lot going on. As they evaluate medical staff relationships with clinical, business, and peer groups, multiple obligations are in play. The physicians responding in this survey are almost equally divided on their perceptions of the leader’s priority to support the medical staff. At face value, it leaves strong leadership teams challenged to determine what to tackle first. And this is only the medical staff’s agenda—there are others, of course.

Creating future leadership

There are national trends and then local realities. With regard to the priorities and expectations of your local medical staff, it’s imperative to dig deeper into their needs, the pulse of the local market, and the priorities.

Starting with data, the decision support team can assist the leadership in understanding which physicians fall into that “can’t afford to lose” category.