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GREEN BAY, Month Day, Year
Doctors in Charge How physician-led healthcare boosts innovation and betters care.
When doctors lead, patients win.
- Physician-led governance fosters quicker innovation.
- This model enhances patient care and access.
- It attracts top clinical talent to mid-sized cities.
- It strengthens financial stability through reinvestment.
Imagine a hospital where the doctors aren’t just employees, but the decision-makers.What is physician-led governance? It’s a healthcare model where doctors lead, govern, and shape the future of the organization.
In northeastern Wisconsin, a clinic with nearly 250 subspecialist physicians and advanced practice providers operates on this principle. This alignment ensures accountability to patients, colleagues, and communities.
The Power of Partnership
as Chair of the Board of Aurora BayCare Medical Center,one individual has witnessed the value of physician-led governance firsthand. The clinic co-owns and operates a tertiary care hospital and Level II trauma Center. This partnership blends the innovation of a major health system with the agility of a physician group.
The structure attracts physicians who desire a stake in their work and autonomy in their practice. These clinicians are drawn by the opportunity to shape their own futures in a collaborative surroundings.
Serving the Community
With a workforce of 1,000, the clinic serves patients across 10 communities in northeastern Wisconsin.They deliver complex care often found only in academic medical centers. Aurora baycare Medical Center houses a Certified Primary stroke Program, advanced neurosurgical services, and innovative orthopedic procedures. A high-risk breast program further reinforces their commitment to state-of-the-art care close to home.
Innovation in Crisis
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the physician-led organization utilized the expertise of over 100 surgeons, anesthesiologists, and administrative leaders. They rapidly designed and implemented COVID-negative surgical pathways. these protocols brought back elective procedures at hospitals and ambulatory centers five to six weeks ahead of statewide benchmarks.
these protocols, rooted in innovation and clinical insight, are still in use today. They have significantly reduced infection exposure among vulnerable patients.
More recently, during the national IV fluid shortage, clinical teams developed protocols to eliminate the use of IV fluids for select low-risk elective procedures. This demonstrated the ability to innovate quickly without compromising safety or quality.
Speed and Breakthroughs
These examples highlight the advantage of a physician-governed model. The leaders are the very people caring for patients each day. They understand the stakes, the urgency, and the nuances that drive healthcare delivery.
Innovation matters, but in times of crisis, the speed of innovation can be just as critical as the breakthrough itself.
Attracting Talent to Mid-Sized Cities
an advantage of this model is its success in attracting and retaining clinical talent in mid-sized cities, where physician recruitment has traditionally been a hurdle. Green Bay may not be the first destination many specialists envision, but the physician-led structure, partnership model, and culture of autonomy have turned it into a magnet for top-tier clinicians.
By offering physicians a clear path to ownership, influence over practice patterns, and control over their schedules, they provide an environment that values professional fulfillment and work-life integration. In a national environment defined by burnout, bureaucracy, and top-down mandates, this sense of ownership is transformative.
A Hybrid Approach
Shared governance with Advocate Health at Aurora BayCare Medical Center strengthens this approach. It brings operational discipline, access to broader system resources, and strategic alignment while preserving physician autonomy and frontline insight. It’s a system of checks and balances that keeps care grounded in clinical logic while aligning with the realities of healthcare operations at scale.
This hybrid model-physician-led with system-level support-enables them to deliver tertiary-level care in a community setting, while navigating the complex realities of labor shortages, evolving regulation, and capital investment demands. Importantly, it ensures that the voice of the physician remains central to how care is designed, delivered, and improved.
Weathering Adversity
The clinic has not only weathered adversity, they’ve grown stronger through it. With physician leadership at every level, they’ve enhanced access, strengthened their financial footing, and reinvested in people and programs that elevate care.
Physician-led governance is a strategic differentiator.it fosters rapid decision-making, empowers those closest to the patient, and ensures that high-quality, high-acuity care remains available in the communities served.
As healthcare organizations nationwide search for enduring models, this story offers an example of what is possible when physicians are partners in the governance and growth of care delivery.
