Succeeding in Health Care Reform: Developing Physician Leaders as Coaches

M Cassatly, A Power International Journal of Coaching in Organizations 2011

Even with the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, a considerable amount of confusion still remains about the future landscape of health care in the US. One fact is certain though: financial risks and rewards will be shared among all parties involved in a patient’s care. This article discusses how physicians, a heterogeneous group of independent entrepreneurs, need to transform into a cohesive group to ensure not only their success but the success of all parties involved in patient care. We present a case study transitioning physicians from their current role as stakeholders to their new role as stakeholder partners in the reformed health care system. In this case, physicians learned and used the skills emphasized in Coach Principle Leadership™. Through this process they developed into physician leaders and applied coaching concepts to transition into the new health care landscape.