Today’s executive healthcare positions require & in many cases demands more than a business background or the ability to speak “financial-ese”. This new industry paradigm requires a well-rounded leader; one who is conversant with both the business and the clinical side of medicine. It’s no longer sufficient to be an accountant or a trustee to provide fiduciary oversight to the executive management team. Above and beyond that, these leaders need to be familiar with the latest trends in the industry, not to mention the sometimes unforeseeable marketplace changes in this day and age. Let’s not forget the perennial mandate of cost containment so critical for any business enterprise's sustainability and survivability as well.
When it comes to Executive Healthcare Administrators by and large they all seem to have the same calling card—a business background. Yet when chosen, PAs are seldom at the top of the list of candidate consideration. Instead, oftentimes, they [we] are bypassed for other PA-kindred professional members (e.g., MDs/DOs, RNs/RPhs, etc). Not until recently, Healthcare Organizations began diversifying their boardroom makeup. And for all the progress that has been made recently, PAs inclusion into this mix has been nil for the most par
This new executive leader—a Physician Assistant---would possess a unique different skill-set compared to the traditional ones, he or she would have the right experiential mix combination of business knowledge, inside healthcare experience, and technical managerial or administrative expertise. If recognized and groomed properly, these clinicians could significantly eliminate the day-to-day operational deficiencies of HCOs and leadership myopia.
Unlike traditional business executives or board members, a few forward-thinking HCOs realize they can do well and even better with PAs due to their prudent stewardship of limited or scarce healthcare resources. While PAs can be good and excel with detailed minutiae responsibilities, almost all are just as good at seeing the big picture too, since they bring a myriad of intangible benefits to the table. Hopefully, others too will start seeing that maintaining these myopic views only perpetuates the untoward effect of unintended professional shortsightedness that is very real encountered in the C-suite
After all, we [PAs] know first-hand experience about patient-centered care teams & what it takes to catapult the success of an enterprise as a whole. So why not Physician Assistants as Executive Healthcare Administrators?
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