Physician-led hospitals likely to rank high

Hospitals ranked in the top 100 for cancer, digestive and cardiovascular care by U.S. News & World Report in 2009 were more likely to be led by physicians than by business or other health care professionals, according to a report published online July 6 in Social Science & Medicine.

"Outstanding hospitals tend to be those run by somebody with a medical degree," said Amanda H. Goodall, PhD, the report's author and a senior researcher at the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany. "I was surprised by the strength of the pattern."

Goodall reviewed the educational histories of the CEOs of top-ranking hospitals (link). Those led by physicians received quality scores from U.S. News & World Report about 25% higher than those headed by CEOs with only a business background.

The study does not demonstrate that physician leadership improves the quality of a hospital, but it does suggest a connection, Goodall said.

"This [report] doesn't prove that doctors are better leaders. I'm not arguing that physicians per se are all good leaders. They have to be trained in leadership. They have to be good managers and good leaders to design the kind of systems that will work for their colleagues and understand the core business of the organization," she said.

Dr. Goodall is working on a longitudinal analysis to determine whether physician leadership creates high-performing hospitals or institutions that excel at attracting physician-executives.

Quantifying the value of physician leadership is considered particularly important because hospitals are employing or aligning with a growing number of doctors to deal because of health system reform.

Mistrust, however, is high. A survey of more than 1,000 physicians published Dec. 2, 2010, by PwC found that 56% did not trust hospitals as partners because of a lack of physician leadership and/or representation on the board (link).