"Each aspect of partnership listed below is correlated to physician ratings of ‘Likelihood you would recommend this facility to friends and family for care,’" says the report. Here are the top five physician priorities for hospital administrators – four of which deal directly with physician/administration relations.
1. Responsiveness of the hospital administration to ideas and needs of medical staff members.
2. Degree to which the facility makes caring for patients easier.
3. Degree to which hospital administration positions the hospital to deal with changes in the healthcare environment.
4. Confidence in the hospital administration to carry out its duties and responsibilities.
5. Communication between physicians and hospital administration.
"The issue of greatest importance to physicians is how well the administration responds to the ideas and needs of the medical staff, and four of the top five priorities involve physician relationships with the administration," says the report. "For a hospital to maintain a high level of patient care and a healthy fiscal operation, it is imperative that administrators regularly assess the state of their relationships with physicians and invest in those relationships. One way [to build] partnerships with physicians is to discuss the factor that brings them together: patients.
"Regularly asking physicians what they need to care for patients and striving to meet these needs will not only help patients; it will also improve the relationship with physicians and enhance physician engagement."
Read more about the Press Ganey report.
