Collaboration to Achieve System Wide Changes: Part III

By Robert L. Moore, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief Medical Officer

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

– Dwight D. Eisenhower

As we emerge from the constraints of the COVID pandemic, we are spending important and deserved energy on restoring our systems and staffing. At the same time, we are trying our best to respond to a flood of new regulations, programs, and provider types.

Given all these activities and external stresses, we have been less engaged with community partners and advocacy efforts. This impacts our effectiveness in addressing challenges in our communities. Lack of engagement also leads to less robust feedback in the policy development process, which impacts the effectiveness of these policies as they roll out.

There are many levels of collaboration in which clinical leaders can and should participate. October’s newsletter focused on county medical societies, and November’s newsletter focused on community collaboratives. This newsletter focuses on state-wide trade organizations.

State-wide Trade Organizations: These may include specialty organizations like the California Academy of Family Physicians or the California Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

They may also represent your practice setting like the California Primary Care Association; the California Rural Indian Health Board; the California Rural Health Association; the California Association of Rural Health Clinics; the California Association of Public Hospitals; and the California Hospital Association. Most of these organizations have committees for clinicians and opportunities for clinical leaders to give input. They make better policy recommendations and formulate better strategies when practicing clinicians are involved.

Trade organizations allow clinician leaders to develop a support network of peers, share best practices with each other informally, and give input on current policy issues that are complex or controversial.

Summary: In addition to leading within your organization, clinician leaders need to engage with outside organizations. It is hard to find time to participate optimally in all these areas. One option is to divide up the workload with other budding clinician leaders in your organization. They often enjoy this break from their clinical work, and it makes them feel like they are a part of something larger than their own clinical practice.

Comments are closed.