Karen Owens Advises Hospitals on Attracting Physician Leaders to Peer Review Committees
Serving on hospital peer review committees can be time-consuming, difficult work — sometimes making it hard to attract physicians to serve. Drawing on her years of advising hospital and medical staff leadership, Karen Owens educated Hospital Peer Review readers on how to attract health care professionals to peer review committees.
Karen explained that physicians may be convinced to participate in staff self-governance for many reasons, including good citizenship, a desire to lead, camaraderie, or even curiosity. Transforming staff members into leaders takes ongoing cultivation over the course of months or years. Karen encouraged hospitals to develop physician and nurse champions to provide encouragement and tools to bring their peers into committee service. Additionally, she said an efficient committee is an attractive one —having committee processes that respect medical staff members’ time can go a long way toward bringing in new leadership.
An experienced health care attorney, Karen counsels hospitals and medical staff leaders in medical staff and peer review proceedings. She represents health care systems, hospitals, clinics, and other providers in matters of quality management, medical staff credentialing, staff structures, bylaws, and confidentiality. She also advises clients in antitrust, contracting, negligent credentialing, and other disputes related to hospital/medical staff relationships.