[The physician manager--building a clinical leadership in community medicine--the Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) model].
Community medicine around the world is facing constant trends of changes. The need to overcome the huge burden of chronic diseases, the need to prioritize and adapt new technologies, and above all, the fact that all these must be done within a given, restricted budget, calls for advanced medical management. In this review we focused on the development of the role of the physician manager in Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) over the last 60 years. From what was once a reactive, utilization control-oriented administrative physician role, there has emerged a proactive, formally educated, health quality leader who is expected to lead his clinical colleagues towards achieving the organization's goals. Every organization should answer 4 basic questions in order to encourage/develop the new generation of physician managers. 1. Who am I?--What is the profile and what are the tasks of the physician manager's role? 2. What is the time allocation allotted to the physician manager by the organization to enable him to do his job? 3. What are the educational and managerial tools provided for the 'new" physician manager? 4. What are the rewards that the organization grants to its best people? By addressing the above questions MHS has successfully developed new generations of young clinical leaders who can help MHS management conduct a real dialogue with its clinical physicians in order to maximize the services that our beneficiaries are receiving from the HMO. Our conclusion is that choosing the right people, providing them with the right tools and positioning the physician manager appropriately in the organization's hierarchy will enable the medical care delivery system in Israel to achieve the level of clinical leadership that can lead us towards a better future.
Kokia
Ehud
E
Maccabi Healthcare Services. kokia_e@mac.org.il
Siegal
Neomi
N
Shemer
Joshua
J
D003154:Community Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D007857:Leadership; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010819:Physician's Role; D010820:Physicians