ACPE Physician in Management Seminar

The top-rated ACPE (American College of Physician Executives) Physician in Management Seminar is a great foundational course for physician executives. Become a better leader in just 2-1/2 days! Get the leadership and management training you need to excel at the business side of medicine.

Physician in Management (PIM) Seminar • September 14-16, 2012 • Atlanta, GA

Take the first four courses live and enjoy faculty and peer discussions. Then complete the remaining two modules online at your convenience. In just one weekend, earn 35 CME—nearly one-third of your pre-graduate degree credits!

Click here for all the details.

Leadership and management skills in dual degree MD/MBA medical students

I recently had the opportunity to speak to medical students at the 9th Annual MD/MBA Conference hosted at Texas Tech University. One of the conversations focused around the value of the MBA for medical students who are preparing for residency applications. Is the MBA an asset or is it a hindrance when it comes to residency applications? Do residency program directors view the MBA as a positive characteristic? Are they indifferent?

Robert Wallace, MD, MBA, from the University of Southern California is currently conducting some research to answer these questions, so stay tuned. You can also read a current MD/MBA student's perspective on this issue here.

2011 Yale Healthcare Conference

The Yale Healthcare Conference is a joint effort between the Yale School of Management and the Health Professional Schools at Yale University that brings together professionals, academics, and students to engage in an instructive conversation concerning current healthcare issues. This will be the 7th consecutive year and they expect the conference to continue growing to over 450 participants.

April 1, 2011 - 9AM - 4:30PM / Omni New Haven Hotel At Yale

With the recent, historic passage of healthcare reform legislation, the U.S. healthcare system is experiencing its most significant transformation in the last 40 years. Restructuring of the healthcare system will have significant implications for how healthcare is delivered, financed and regulated. The conference offers a perfectly-timed opportunity to illuminate the changes that key stakeholders will face with reform, also expanding upon how excellence can be fostered in a modified system. Specifically, the conference will examine:

Panel Discussion: innovative post MD/MBA programs

This afternoon, I attended a great panel discussion (here at the Association of MD/MBA Programs 8th Annual Conference) where several physicians discussed some innovative post MD/MBA programs. The two programs that were highlighted were the Duke University: Management and Leadership Pathway for Residents (MLP-R) and the WellPoint fellowship.

• Mark Bloomberg, MD, MBA (President, The Bloomberg Healthcare Group)
• Devdutta Sangvai, MD, MBA (Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Duke University)
• Omar Latif, MD (Physician Executive Fellow at WellPoint, Inc.)

Before the panel discussion began, Dr. Mark Bloomberg shared some of his clinical/business pearls:

• Short vs. long-term focus. Patient care may be short-term when you're making a diagnosis, but business is more long-term.
• Inquisitive nature and an open mind. Learn the language and discipline of business.
• Develop clinical excellence. If you're thinking about long-term career goals, clinical training and practice yields long-term benefits.
• Take advantage of opportunities. 
• Managing a transition from clinician to administration. 
• Be patient. There are so many people who are rushing through their careers. Don't be too impatient. Pace yourself, gain experience, and show that experience in your resume. 

Then, Dr. Dev Sangvai spoke about the MLP-R program at Duke.

Kellogg Executive Education

Physicians are often too busy to enroll in full-time business programs, but executive programs can be appealing because they cater to busy schedules. Kellogg has some great programs. Here's a little intro about Kellogg at Northwestern University: 

Executive Education at the Kellogg School is the most direct way to make an immediate impact on the practice of management. Our unique approach to executive education focuses on creating a collaborative learning environment. This experience inspires program participants to put new ideas into action to meet today’s toughest business challenges.

They offer an executive MBA, but they also have some open enrollment programs that focus on management, leadership, strategy, and more.  Several of my good friends are graduates of Kellogg and we've explored several health consulting opportunities together. To learn more about some of these executive education opportunities, click here to visit the Kellogg Executive Education website.

Negotiating and Compromising with Difficult People

Physicians don't learn about these types of things during medical school. Who's heard of "conflict resolution" courses during medical school? Well, if you're interested in the business world of health care, make sure you have some solid leadership skills so that you can manage conflict in the workplace. Dale Carnegie has an article titled, "12 Tips for Negotiating and Compromising with Difficult People" and here's a short summary of the advice they offer:

Negotiating is the process of attempting to agree on a solution. Compromising, or settling on a mutually agreeable solution, is the result of successful negotiations. Compromise is all about being flexible. It means being able to generate alternate solutions when you've "hit the wall." Whether it involves a person you can't get along with, an idea you know will work but that others are reluctant to agree to, a change in office systems, or a turf war that needs ending, learning to negotiate and compromise is essential to your success.

1. Have a positive attitude.
2. Meet on mutual ground.
3. Clearly define and agree on the issue.
4. Do your homework.
5. Take an honest inventory of yourself.
6. Look for shared interests.
7. Deal with facts, not emotions.
8. Be honest.
9. Present alternatives and provide evidence.
10. Be an expert communicator.
11. End on a good note.
12. Enjoy the process.

To read the complete article on Dale Carnegie, click here.

Founded in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has evolved from one man's belief in the power of self-improvement to a performance-based training company with offices worldwide. We focus on giving people in business the opportunity to sharpen their skills and improve their performance in order to build positive, steady, and profitable results.

The Nonlinear Career Path of an Entrepreneur

Bright Horizon's founder Linda Mason tells an inspiring story as a recession-era entrepreneur who built several hugely successful, socially oriented ventures, navigating very real pitfalls and challenges along the way. Her “nonlinear path” yielded important life lessons, which she shares in this talk.

Hosted by the MIT Sloan School of Management as part of the Dean's Innovative Leader Series.

Harvard MS Degree in Health Care Management

The Harvard School of Public Health offers a part-time master of science degree in health care management: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/mhcm/

MS Degree in Health Care Management	Two Year Program Three Weeks per Summer Five Four-Day Weekends per Year
Part-time Master of Science Degree Program for Physician and Dentist Executives of Health Care Organizations.

Most (or maybe all) of the faculty are from the Department of Health Policy and Management. I sure miss Boston. Those were some of the best days for me. I would go back to Boston in a heartbeat.