Featured blog post: The role of the medical staff advisor

The alignment between hospitals and their medical staffs continues to be one of the challenges that demands attention, particularly as we move into the unchartered territory called healthcare reform. Two factors continue to pose barriers. First, physicians must continue to be involved in medical staff governance to ensure quality of care and patient safety, but few are interested. Second, hospitals must often operate with decreased monetary resources. 

There is a group of physicians that could potentially pave the way for physician-hospital alignment: the seasoned physician who is scaling back his or her practice or retiring from clinical medicine. This group is made up of a large pool of talent, experience, and passion that is largely untapped by those charged with the governance of the medical staff. Historically, medical staffs have granted these physicians emeritus or honorary status, given them a reception with cake and punch, and wished them well as they exited stage left.
Hospital administrators still need physicians who can influence, advise, counsel, and contribute to the organized medical staff and, at the same time, meet the mission and vision of the hospital. Charging senior physicians with this task through a medical staff advisor role is both effective and cost efficient for the hospital and the medical staff.  

Read more of this blog post at MedicalStaffLeader.com