The role of health administration education in developing healthcare leaders

Certain proposals are difficult to challenge and appear to be beyond debate. The call for improved quality of healthcare is one of these. And certainly, the call for more leaders and more highly skilled leaders in the healthcare industry is another, especially in these times of rapid change, strained resources and concern about quality. Though the goal of preparing more leaders, and in particular preparing more highly skilled leaders, is meritorious, the premises underlying this goal and the methods of achieving it deserve careful examination. This commentary questions the ability to accurately forecast the supply of and demand for leaders in the healthcare industry and examines selected aspects of the 10 principles for leadership development proposed in the lead paper.