7 ways to keep physicians aligned with your practice

Physician engagement scores can look fine even when the practice is quietly bleeding alignment. A doctor may still see patients, hit productivity targets and avoid open conflict, yet they may stop trusting leadership, stop offering ideas and start thinking about the exit. That gap matters for practice administrators because misalignment shows up first as subtle behavior change, then as churn, recruiting costs and coverage headaches that land on managers long before patients see it in access and continuity of care.

In a Physicians Practice interview, Scott Polenz, principal consultant in advisory services at CHG Healthcare, described alignment as more than a culture slogan. It is whether physicians believe they can “live the mission and the vision and the values of the organization,” and whether they trust the leaders asking them to do that work. “Do I trust them? Do I know them? If I shake their hand, do they look me in the eyes? Do I believe that they’re living the mission and the vision and the values of the organization?” he said.

Polenz said the early tells are often behavioral rather than dramatic. When physicians are not aligned, “We have our head down. We’re just kind of trying to…get through the day,” he said. Others go the opposite direction, he noted: “You verbalize it every chance that you can,” sometimes with sarcasm, like, “Oh yeah, I can’t wait to see what administration did today.”

Here are seven ways to build alignment in practical, repeatable ways.