COMPETENCES FOR POPULATION-BASED CLINICAL MANAGERS - A SURVEY OF MANAGED CARE MEDICAL DIRECTORS

Background: The evolution of American health care into integrated syst ems of delivery and finance requires a specialized set of population-b ased skills for physicians. The field of preventive medicine represent s one source of this expertise. Specific competencies for the emerging area of managerial medicine have not been well delineated. Methods: U sing concept documents from the Residency Review Committee for Prevent ive Medicine and the American Board of Preventive Medicine, a list of Proposed competencies for managerial medicine was identified. Surveys were mailed to medical directors of all members of the American Associ ation of Health Plans and to a random sample of diplomates of the Amer ican Board of Preventive Medicine. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of these competencies for a population-oriented clinician m anager. Results: Areas rated highly by medical directors included heal th services research (including outcomes research), quality assurance and improvement, health risk assessment and reduction, programmatic sk ills, and clinical preventive skills. Responses from preventive medici ne specialists were similar, but placed lower emphasis on these skills . Conclusion: Despite its limited response rate, this survey may be us eful in the implementation of specialty training in managerial medicin e. Residency training programs may choose to emphasize specific conten t areas that reflect the priorities expressed by physicians actively i nvolved in management.