Monday, June 22, 2015
Institutionalizing Medicine
I think that the biggest challenge facing health care
management today is the institutionalization of medicine – a profession that
has historically defended itself vigorously against any loss of independence, a
stand that has enjoyed general public support.
As evidence of that support, I frequently ask people whether they think
their doctors should have bosses. I have
yet to get an unqualified “yes” as an answer.
So it’s the brave healthcare executive who tries to
incorporate the medical profession into a program for addressing the health
care issues of the day.
And yet there is little choice other than to try to do
so. Although they never say so in so
many words, Obamacare, insurance companies, employers and other major health
care players are adopting strategies and implementing programs that can only be
responded to effectively by making the medical profession a part of the effort
– in other words, by institutionalizing medicine.
It is not easy. The
June issue of H&HN, the journal of the American Hospital Association,
carries an article entitled The New
Health Care CEO. The article reports
a survey on what health care CEO’s consider to be “the primary hurdle to
achieving your organization’s strategic priorities” The results are:
Physician buy-in and engagement 26%
Financial constraints 15%
Organizational barriers to collaboration 26%
Lack of talent or skill sets for key roles 14%
Cultural impediments within the organization 14%
I think it reasonable to suspect that every item listed,
except for financial constraints, has to do with the institutionalization of
medicine.
