Medical Staff Development - The Right Relationship

Dr. William Cors recommends that one of the keys to good medical staff development is having the right relationship between the hospital and the physicians. He begins to describe different models of hospital-physician relationships: joint ventures, gain-sharing, or employing physicians. None of these is the right fit for every medical staff, but starting at this level reduces the hospital-medical staff relationship to a formula for dividing the pie. Adding a few rounds of golf and periodic social events serves to smooth the negotiations, but it is still about the pie. Why not gather around the mission flag? Why not collaborate to build the mission plan first? Most would respond: “Because it can’t be done with a disparate group of physicians.” Why not? Because we have simply chosen not to invest the time and effort in the spiritual formation of physicians. We have not invested because, for the most part, we don’t understand how to promote the spiritual formation of physicians.