Are You A Physician-Friendly Hospital? Here Is How To Prove It.

"As a leader...your principal job is to create an operating environment where others can do great things." - Richard Teerlink, former Chairman and CEO of Harley Davidson and responsible for turning it around.

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I think, like Richard Teerlink, that great leaders create great environments. Yes, there are a lot of other variables as well and I mentioned them earlier. The leader has to be trustworthy, compassionate, motivational, and on and on. But they have to do other things, and one of them is to create a fertile garden so things can grow. The result of that, in a hospital setting, would be having less physician turnover. I don’t know if there is any perfect way to create this environment, but it definitely needs to start at the top.?

I think this book is a start in showing how a doctor (and the hundreds and hundreds of other doctors who shared stories with me) sees how an environment should be. I am sure it is not totally inclusive of everything that a hospital and its CEOs should be doing, but it moves the ball forward in the right direction. Maybe more importantly, this book shows why it is critical to at least think about improving the hospital environment, as it relates to physicians so that your turnover is less. So here is the next question. How would you prove it to the outside world? And is that important??

I think I have a way.

And I think this is.?

I believe there is a gold standard out there that hospitals would want to attain by making their environments more alluring for doctors. This does not mean doing outlandish stuff to placate doctors. It means doing the things mentioned in this book. And it would make the recruiting process so much easier. I believe it would improve physician retention immensely. Now what term would be great to let others know how well a hospital treats their doctors?

Well, I have spent a lot of time thinking about this, and here’s my answer.?

How about Physician-Friendly? Or a Physician-Friendly Hospital??

How would you measure this? Easy. Go back to the chapter on eNPS. If your hospital meets the minimum number reached by physician-led practices, then it is a Physician Friendly Hospital. That number is over 19 and it is NOT being met now by hospitals, unfortunately. Remember the average hospital is rated negative by physicians.

Yes, there is a leap of faith here. For one, it is a starting point because no one has ever done this before. Secondly, it needs to be done by a third party who can certify it. Why? It would be too easy for hospitals to find ways to exclude their known detractors from doing the survey. So, a third party needs to make sure everyone has answered the one-question survey. They need to spend time shaking the trees and bushes to get docs to answer the one eNPS question. Lastly, this needs to be done on a yearly basis.?

Will this happen? Who knows? At the time of this writing, I am personally involved in trying to do this. I would like to form some type of certifying body to see if hospitals are physician-friendly or not. Why? I don’t trust other consultants or organizations to do it. If you read the whole book before this section, then you know my hesitation. I have seen bogus certifying organizations over the years, and let’s just say I am skeptical of their ethics. It’s just too easy to sell out in healthcare. I only trust me.?

So, there you have it. A very small chapter on what may end up being the most important thing to come out of this book. Showing that your hospital is “Physician-Friendly” could be the best recruiting tool and retention tool you need. It would be dynamic in that you would need to keep doing those things that your physicians recommend in order to keep your status.?

It’s a self-correcting mechanism that keeps the CEOs in the loop and accountable, so physicians feel they are being heard. And it is very simple to measure to compare to other hospitals (using the eNPS).?

(This is chapter TWENTY-NINE from my book?The Hospital Guide to Physician Retention: Why Creating a Physician-Friendly Environment is Critical for Your Organization's Success. See earlier chapters on my LinkedIn, For more info, go to physicianretention.com)