Leading Clinicians and Clinicians Leading

More effective models of care delivery are needed, but their successful implementation depends on effective care teams and good management of local operations (clinical microsystems). Clinicians influence both, and local clinician leaders will have several key tasks. Stubbornly high costs and the expected care needs of aging baby boomers make more effective models of care delivery a pressing need. Unfortunately, new models often perform below their potential. Their designs — usually comprising some combination of alternative sites of care or caregivers, new care processes, and enabling technologies — promise global improvements in quality or cost. But successful implementation depends on two local factors: effective care teams and good management of local operations (“clinical microsystems”). Clinicians influence both. The prospects for care redesign and performance improvement depend on clinician leadership in units, wards, clinics, and practices. Models such . . .