When I first became involved in healthcare—a very long time ago—I tried to compliment a hospital administrator who had just completed giving me a partial tour of his facility.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on Nexera, Inc.'s website.
He replied with a statement that I’ve heard many times since from others in similar shoes. “You know,” he said, “we could run a really good place here, if it wasn’t for doctors and patients.” He meant, of course, to be at least partially facetious. But his words arose from attitudes that were remarkably common not so long ago. While physicians were necessary to the very function of a hospital, the medical staff was all too often perceived (not always inaccurately) as self-centered, narrow in focus and concern, and obstreperous. Hospital administrators, on the other hand, were trained in management and paid to look rationally at the big picture, taking seriously their responsibility to meet payroll and keep the doors open, however difficult that might be. In order to survive economically, hospitals and physicians needed each other, but neither side had to especially like it. Click to continue >>