Although old hands at the provision of excellent patient care, surgeons are relatively new participants in the development of U.S. health policy and in the legislative advocacy that accompanies it. A health policy scholarship program, established three years ago by the American College of Surgeons in concert with several specialty societies, prepares surgeons to be knowledgeable and dynamic leaders in health policy, an area which today so profoundly affects provision of quality patient care.
The scholarship program was developed by faculty at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management and the ACS and was tailored to surgeons interested in leadership and national health policy. Recipients of the scholarship, which pays for a weeklong course at Brandeis, also are asked to serve on the ACS Health Policy Committee for the year. In the case of neurosurgery, the fellow also has a guest seat on the AANS/CNS Washington Committee.
As the 2006 AANS/ACS Health Policy Fellow, I participated in the Leadership Program in Health Policy and Management held May 29-June 3 at Brandeis University. Although fairly intense, the Brandeis Course was very well thought out and given. The facilities at the Heller School are state of the art and include wireless Internet capabilities, computer simulation labs and veteran faculty.
As the 2006 AANS/ACS Health Policy Fellow, I participated in the Leadership Program in Health Policy and Management held May 29-June 3 at Brandeis University. Although fairly intense, the Brandeis Course was very well thought out and given. The facilities at the Heller School are state of the art and include wireless Internet capabilities, computer simulation labs and veteran faculty.
In another case study, a mid-level administrator was charged with gaining support for and introducing a “Six Sigma” program to his hospital system. In this instance, computer simulation programs were utilized to determine where roadblocks might occur and to determine which leadership techniques might be most successful in getting the various managers to adopt the system.
The faculty lectures were outstanding. A series of PowerPoint presentations by Stuart Altman, dean of the school with 30 years of experience in governmental healthcare reform, were without doubt the most educational lectures of the week. He was able to give an overview of the history of the rise of governmental healthcare in America and point out how the system is influenced and how major changes in healthcare policy occur.
Another interesting lecture was given by Jeffrey Levin-Scherz, MD. He was a family practitioner before he returned to school to obtain a master’s degree in business administration, and he now serves as the chief medical officer of Partners Community Healthcare. Having viewed healthcare from both the medical and business sides of the fence, he offered useful insights into the problems facing the healthcare insurance industry today.
Other lectures offered the managerial perspective. Jody Hoffer Gittel, PhD, author of the book Southwest Airlines Way: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve High Performance, lectured on human resources management and team building. Sarita Balotra, MD, PhD, gave a series of lectures on performance measurement and management. Jon Chilingerean, PhD, lectured on managing change in complex systems, managing clinics and the healthcare process. He also gave an excellent overview of different leadership styles and diagnosed which leadership technique each course participant tended to use. More importantly, he pointed out which leadership techniques were doomed to fail under certain circumstances and how to recognize which leadership technique would be most effective in a given circumstance.
Overall, the course was excellent. The didactic sessions were informal and the instructors took daily assessment of the 16 participants and added lectures or changed the course as necessary. The ancillary reading was voluminous but carefully chosen. During the fellowship year, Internet access to course reading materials remains available and a series of follow-up telephone conference calls will allow the group to convene several times.
The AANS/ACS Health Policy Scholarship is awarded annually in the spring. Applications will be available from the ACS, www.facs.org/memberservices/research.html, and the AANS, www.AANS.org. For information on how to apply for the scholarship, contact Kate Early, [email protected].
Frederick A. Boop, MD, is associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Tennessee and chief of pediatric neurosurgery at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital.