Becker's CEO + CFO Roundtable 2019: 3 Questions with Robert Frantz, President, West Group at TeamHealth

Robert Frantz serves as the President, West Groupat TeamHealth.

On November 12th, Robert will serve on the panel "Leadership in Times of Disaster: Lessons for the C-Suite" at Becker's 8th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place November 11-13, 2019 in Chicago.

To learn more about the conference and Robert's session, click here.

Question: What is going on right now?

Robert Frantz: I am spending a fair amount of time thinking about the potential impact on emergency physician compensation as a result of some of the balanced billing legislation being proposed. In the very worthy effort to address “surprise bills” for patients coming to the emergency department cost savings has become an add on topic. Some of the proposals have the very real potential to drive down provider compensation in the specialty and anticipating that is taking a lot of my time.

Q: What is the single most important thing to do in my role?

RF: Care. I tell providers all the time that I could teach virtually anyone to perform a complex emergency medicine procedure in hours. However, I can never teach you to care. You either do or you don’t. I spend a lot of time cultivating my “care”. With that one thing I can address burnout, meet the needs of my clients and providers and function as a fair arbiter and leader. Without it, I can’t do anything.

Q: Healthcare leaders today need skills and talents that span beyond those emphasized during formal training and higher education. What is one specific competency that you learned or sharpened in real life?

RF: It took a long time for me to completely comprehend my potential impact. Graduates of formalized training in healthcare (physicians) and healthcare management (C-Suite members) are suddenly endowed with a title and authority. Failing to recognize the full impact of that as a physician and later as a physician leader led to me minimizing my own ability to influence a decision or situation. At the other end of the spectrum I sometimes caused unintentional harm because I did not fully understand my words carried the weight of my title or position. Self-awareness is a rare trait and one that often only develops with time. That is unfortunate because the potential for missed opportunities and unintentional harm.

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