The Physicians Foundation awards UC 75K for leadership program

The Physicians Foundation, a national organization that awards grants to advance the work of practicing physicians, has given the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center a boost with a $75,000 grant to a university leadership program.

The grant will go to the Health Center's Physician Leadership Program, an intensive training program for the region's community practice doctors. The five-year-old program identifies and trains physicians as leaders in the area of business and medicine. The program has faced increasing demand since its inception and the grant will help make it more accessible, said Dr. Joan Murdock, UC's Physician Leadership Program director.

"The demand for the program in past years has been greater than what we could accommodate, and we have turned many interested applicants away," said Murdock. "This grant from The Physicians Foundation will enable us to provide the updated program to a larger cohort of physicians from a wider geographic area over the next two years."

Founded in 2005, The Physicians Foundation has awarded more than $20 million in grants since its inception. In the past few years, developing physician leadership has been among the Foundation's top priorities in its mission "to create a more efficient and equitable healthcare system."

UC's program fit with the foundation's goal, its president said.

"The Physicians Foundation has made physician leadership a major focus," said President Dr. Lou Goodman. "Currently, there is a dearth of effective, world-class programs that provide leadership training for physicians. Our goal as an organization is to help identify and train future medical leaders in medical practice, business, government and associations. We believe that doing so will be vital to improving the quality of health care in the years ahead."

The UC program began as a partnership between Humana and UC. Designed for 20 to 25 physicians each year, the 20-week program focuses on topics such as the economics of health care and health policy, consumer-centric practice management, cost and quality transparency, and health-sector finance.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: UC Communications

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