Developing a Physician Leadership Program Through Inter-Organizational Collaboration

Effective physician leadership is an essential component in modern healthcare, but medical education often lacks accessible, formal leadership training for the physicians who will move into these roles. We describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a local leadership program developed at our institute in partnership with a local university that can be used as a template for other healthcare systems. The Medicine Institute's leadership team at Allegheny Health Network partnered with a local university to develop a year-long faculty physician leadership program tailored to minimize travel and associated costs while focusing on concepts of clinician leadership, conflict resolution, healthcare finance, and organizational culture. Participants were selected after a formal application process and completed pre- and post-course assignments and surveys. Data analysis included Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and paired t-tests, along with a qualitative analysis of key insights obtained from free-text comments. Fourteen faculty members participated in the leadership program, spread over a one- year period (January 1, 2024 through January 15, 2025). Individual and composite scores showed a statistically significant increase in self-reported awareness, confidence, and understanding after program completion (p < 0.05). Key insights gathered from the free-text comments indicated participants had increased self-awareness, enhanced leadership skills, valuable networking, immediate applicability of learned concepts, heightened motivation, and a strong desire for continued engagement. The program successfully reduced some of the common barriers to participation in existing leadership programs such as geographic accessibility, travel related costs, and time constraints. The partnership between two institutions supported improvements in leadership competencies and provided a framework for ongoing professional development, which may serve as a useful model for other organizations seeking to develop physician leaders. Our results support ongoing investment in physician leadership development programs that ensure a steady pipeline of physician leaders in healthcare systems.