Key Attributes of a Successful Pediatrician-in-Chief

In the post-pandemic world, integrated delivery networks and academic medical centers are returning to a focus on the fundamentals of quality, patient safety, outcomes and the footprint expansion to grow and sustain their health systems. In the context of the pandemic's many rippling effects, one area to explore is the impact on children’s health and children’s hospitals' leadership models.

It is well-documented how children’s hospitals have been impacted by both rural and urban facility closures, downsizings, regionalization and reorganization of services. The pandemic exposed several critical vulnerabilities in pediatric care. The climate in children’s care calls for engaged and skilled leaders to make a lasting impact on the care model. One central leader of the Pediatric department is the chairperson. Children’s hospitals depend on strong chairs to lead their departments and to advocate for their teams and their patients. In many cases more is required and expected of these leaders, resulting in an expansion of the traditional role.

Today's chair must be more skilled and adept at leading others than in the past. We therefore see the role as more of a “pediatrician-in-chief,” and some organizations are using this terminology in defining the position.

The tactics to succeed in a role of this scale historically have been clinical credibility, research productivity and national reputation. However, true leadership skills are vital. The opportunities for a pediatrician-in-chief are vast and, as such, the ability to be authentic, listen, communicate effectively and provide solutions are what organizations are seeking.

A successful pediatrician-in-chief will:

• Build relationships, trust and culture to bring others along before they can begin to achieve outcomes. The alignment of department, clinical leadership (physician and nursing) and hospital leadership is when an organization is fully connected and can reach its potential.
• Make connections with the organization's leadership. This individual must understand the organization's structure to impact decisions at the board, organizational and department levels.
• strategic in every key decision. The department chair is evolving into the pediatrician-in-chief by taking on increasingly strategic responsibilities, such as expanding the clinical footprint for multiple hospitals in a market to secure a 24/7 children’s hospital operation. The ability to build programs rests on the ability to connect care at the bedside with operational leadership of a health system: senior leadership, nursing, physicians, administrative teams and staff.
• Identify market trends and regional competitive forces impacting the future of care delivery and innovation.
• Understand the market dynamics and the organization's place within the market head winds. Is the organization growing while others are divesting? Recognizing these connection points will aid the pediatrician-in-chief's approach to program development and future investments.
• Recruit and retain an exceptional, progressive faculty. Many pediatrician-in-chief candidates tell us they have experience recruiting faculty, but do not describe how they have developed a process to identify and develop talent in a replicable way. The accountability to bring people in, support them and help them succeed sits with the pediatrician-in-chief.
• Be financially responsible for leading the department's mission to help each child reach their fullest potential and improve children's lives.
• Develop a large, engaged philanthropic community. The pediatrician-in-chief will continue to focus on expanding and increasing philanthropy for the department, grateful supporters of the program, corporate entities and community supporters.

Providing excellent healthcare for kids may be one of our highest callings, but it must be done with attention to timely access, clinical excellence and coordination of care to complement the tenets of the academic mission—cutting-edge research and developing the future of the field. The pediatrician-in-chief is a much different role than the traditional leader of a children's hospital or pediatric unit. With an expanded scope and authority, the physician leader who holds this role has the power to make an even greater impact upon children and families.

Michael Anderson, MD, is principal, and Vinny Gossain is consultant, WittKieffer. This content has been excerpted from In Children’s Healthcare, the Department Chair Evolves into the Pediatrician-in-Chief .?

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