The Physician Executive: Role in the Adaptation of American Medicine

Abstract

In the arena of managed care and large delivery systems, professional associations find it increasingly difficult to influence the environments in which their members practice. Physician executives appear likely to play key roles in the response of medicine to change. This article discusses how an analysis of the work of physicians involved in management fails to yield a clear analytic distinction between physicians engaged in management and the behavior of others who have managerial responsibility.