Covid-19 has made clear why all physicians need to know about the business of healthcare

Abstract

Amid longstanding recognition that healthcare challenges are often managerial, not just clinical, many have called for greater attention to developing physicians’ business management abilities. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has amplified the urgency of building physicians’ business knowledge and skills—from understanding health economics and finances to managing dynamics of collaborative leadership and change—in order to respond to pandemic-induced business challenges that threaten healthcare organizations. Unfortunately, existing efforts to develop these critical skills among physicians remain limited, focusing primarily on early-career physicians-in-training or later-career physicians in formal leadership positions. These efforts leave a wide swath of frontline physician leaders “in the middle” without systematic resources for developing their business management abilities. We advocate for several key changes to professional practices and policies to help bring business of health knowledge and skills to the foreground for all physicians, both in the pandemic and beyond.