Physician Leadership: A Central Strategy to Transforming Healthcare

As the role of the physician leader becomes increasingly important in the transformation of healthcare, how hospitals, health systems, and other healthcare organizations define that role is undergoing radical change. Traditional physician leadership roles no longer are effective, and the independent medical staff approach is changing to a collaborative, team-oriented model. The dyad relationship between physician leaders and operational leaders is shifting from a rigid, siloed set of responsibilities to a model characterized by a distributed, situational framework of accountabilities, and the scope of influence of the physician leader and operational leader fluctuates depending on the situation and individuals involved. In addition, the focus of the physician leader is moving to one founded in servant leadership, with an increased emphasis on creating supportive models to enhance physicians' success and place them in the roles of leader and integrator of health.