At the Becker's Hospital Review CEO Strategy Roundtable in Chicago on Nov. 5, Patrick Board, CEO of Terre-Haute, Ind.-based Union Health System; Stuart Neiberg, MAcc, CPA, CFA, director of HealthCare Appraisers; and Alan Channing, former president and CEO of Chicago-based Sinai Health System discussed common issues and strategies regarding physician alignment. The discussion was moderated by Lindsey Dunn, editor in chief of Becker's Hospital Review.
Mr. Board said a tactful physician recruitment process is a critical first step to achieving physician alignment. "You have to get the physicians who can really do what you need," he explained. "During our interview process we really buff it up — not grill them but we're extraordinarily candid about what our expectations are." According to Mr. Board, it is easier to find physicians who can align with the values and expectations of the organization if they are laid on the table during the initial meeting. "You have to be blunt if your vision doesn't fit with what their desires are," he added.
According to Mr. Neiberg, another key to physician alignment is identifying exactly what needs a physician expects an organization to meet. "Every doctor wants something different. Some want to stay independent so you need to look at co-management, for example," he said. Having a good development team at an organization's facility to handle physicians' wants and needs is an effective strategy for successful physician alignment, Mr. Neiberg suggested.
Once physicians have been recruited to an organization, alignment can be sustained if the organization provides appropriate incentives. According to Mr. Channing, the question becomes: What can an organization do to motivate the physicians to stay?
"We've seen a shift in compensation models that start to think more long-term in nature," he said. He suggested looking for ways to implement an incentive compensation program that has an alignment strategy with a "longer horizon." "This may have something to do with retirement. If a physician is in his forties, he may not be thinking much about that, but if he's in his fifties or sixties, he will. Incentivized compensation plans should address the physicians' specific needs," he explained.
The relationship between a physician and a hospital may be complex, but developing alignment strategies early on can help with retention, satisfaction and outcomes, according to the panelists.