Medical Staff Planning

A hospital without a medical staff is an empty building.  Successful service lines are dependent upon the optimal mix and location of physicians, and service lines are dependent upon a strong primary care base.

In our view, hospitals’ medical staff planning should not be limited to supply/demand studies and retirement planning.  Rather, a medical staff plan should address key issues, such as:

• How many physicians are needed to meet strategic and service line objectives?

• When is employment the optimal alignment model?

• When a specialty has both employed and private practice physicians, how are the different relationships managed?

• When should a joint venture be pursued with a physician group?

• Would a Clinically-Integrated Network (per FTC/DOJ) address key sustainability issues of private practice physicians?

• What governance structure should be designed for care management entities, to align the interests of key stakeholders?

• How much physician capacity growth does the health system need, and how will it work with both the employed group and private practice groups to address that need?