It's probably fair to say that physicians and health care administrative personnel do not always see eye to eye on medical matters. Yet a study by a firm that specializes in recruiting for the health care industry found that when it comes to basic business priorities, the two are in unusually close alignment.

Cejka Search polled 949 physicians and admin staffers. They offered them 10 "health care delivery priorities" and ask them to rank them in terms of importance. Both physicians and administrators agreed on four of the top five priorities and, although they didn't rank all of them in the same order, they did agree on their top priority: effective patient communication.

Here are the 10, with the physicians' ranking first and administrators' second.

  1. Effective patient communication: 1, 1

  2. Collaborates well with advanced practitioners and others: 2, 3

  3. Viewed as a partner in patient's wellness: 3, 5

  4. Willing to accept opinions from colleagues and others clinicians: 4, 6

  5. Customer service orientation: 5, 2

  6. Effective change agent: 6, 7

  7. Achieving quality outcome goals set by facilities: 7, 4

  8. Embracing technology for more efficient medical practice: 8, 8

  9. Ability to negotiate with health plans to cover procedures believed to be in best interest of patients: 9, 10

  10. Working  knowledge of insurance requirements: 10, 9

While it's nice to know these parties generally have the same priorities, insurance plan administrators may not be so happy to see the close agreement in their lowest priorities.

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Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.

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