MD/MBA Careers in Consulting (part 2)

Highlights from the Association of MD/MBA Programs (AMMP) 8th Annual Conference.

Lisa Bard Levine, MD, MBA (Associate Director of Healthcare at Navigant Consulting, Inc.) spoke about consulting opportunities for MD/MBAs. During medical school at the combined MD/MBA program, she spent more time focusing on attending careers and less on residency. Then, she selected anesthesia as her residency. She left residency and wanted to return to consulting, so she joined the Bard Group (which was acquired by Navigant Consulting).

Healthcare Consulting Spectrum for Physicians

• Physician Advisor (business development)
• Content Expert (subject matter expert)
• Strategic Consultant (integration and engagement, transformation of care, building strategy and programs)

Organizations are focusing today around performance and value.  Almost every project includes physician engagement.

MD/MBA Careers in Consulting

I'm covering highlights from the Association of MD/MBA Programs (AMMP) 8th Annual Conference. This morning's session on "MD/MBA Careers in Consulting and Entrepreneurship" was an excellent presentation by Spencer Borden, MD, MBA. Dr. Borden is the Senior Managing Scientist at Exponent, Inc. Exponent is a leading engineering and scientific consulting firm providing solutions to complex technical problems. He gave some great suggestions on how to get involved in medical consulting. Given that consulting ought to be focused around your expertise as a medical professional, how do you prove your expertise to your clients? Here are some practical tips:

• Leverage your publications and case studies
• References/recommendations from clients
• Show knowledge about trends in the industry (perhaps you can do this by blogging)

How do you market yourself?

• Network like crazy and use social networks
• Reach out to 3 new contacts each day

Selecting a prospective client:

• What type of firm has a business need your services?
• Who could hire you? You must establish a personal contact within the firm since most cold calls don't work.

Why Women Don't Make It Up The Ladder

An interesting article published on Forbes.com called, "Why Women Don't Make It Up The Ladder." Bain & Company recently conducted a survey of more than 1,800 businesspeople worldwide, and nearly 80% of them--women and men--said they were convinced of the benefits of gender parity at all levels. Do you think this is true in medicine as well? Some medical specialties are dominated by a large volume of women physicians. I'm talking specifically about pediatrics and family medicine. What happens in the corporate setting? How does gender impact your ability to advance as a leader?

To read the story on Forbes, click here.

Jobs in Healthcare Consulting

If you could become a healthcare consultant, where would you want to work? McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), or Booz? Perhaps you may be looking for jobs with AT Kearney, Navigant, Accenture, Deloitte. Do you know what it takes to get a job in healthcare consulting? If you're looking for a competitive edge and you're willing to make an investment in your career, then you may want to consider investing in a career coach or mentor who has some first-hand experience working in a consulting firm.

As our nation prepares for some major changes within the healthcare system, I see that more opportunities will open up in the world of healthcare consulting. So many questions will need to get answered before we truly know what type of impact these healthcare reform changes will have on different industries ranging from pharma to managed care to hospital systems to actual physicians.