Sudha Xirasagar, PhD¹, Keith Elder, PhD¹, and Carleen H. Stoskopf, ScD². (1) Dept of Health Services Policy and Management, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia, SC 29208, (803) 576 6093, sxirasagar@sc.edu, (2) Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Department of Health Services Policy & Management, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208

The current status of the federally-assisted Community Health Center (CHC) medical directors’ management training will be presented. Given that transformational leadership is positively associated with clinical leadership effectiveness, this study examines the current status of medical directors’ management training, and the question of how it empirically associates with the degree of transformational, transactional and laissez faire leader behaviors of medical directors. Executive directors (EDs) of the CHCs were surveyed for their perceptions of leadership styles of their medical directors, demographic variables, and the CHC’s clinical goal achievements. Bass and Avolio's Multifactor Leadership questionnaire was used. The survey response rate was 38% (total 265 responses). The study will also examine the association of medical directors’ management training with perceived effectiveness, subordinate satisfaction, and extra effort, as well as with the CHC clinical goal achievement. No empirical studies on physician leadership as experienced by others and its association with management training are documented so far. The study will indicate whether exposure to general management training translates into better leadership styles that in turn lead to better clinical performance of CHCs. The study findings have major implications for enhancing the role and mission effectiveness of CHCs in delivering care for underserved populations, and for the physician community in general, to understand the role of management training in clinical leadership effectiveness to improve health care delivery in America. Effective physician leadership is the key to improving the quality and effectiveness of health care, especially in a managed care setting.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will get insight into the empirical association of management training of medical directors with effectiveness as perceived by their executive directors, and also how it associates with the CHC’s clinical performance in terms of disease management goal achievement. It will provide directions for policy makers and healthcare administrators on decision-making about targeted investments in training of medical directors of CHCs. It will also provide insight to the general physician community about the general utility of management training for physicians.

Keywords: Leadership, Physicians

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.