Millennium Physician Group

Zenobia Brown MD

Population Health Authority

A Patient-Centered Leadership Philosophy

I grew up largely under insured or uninsured which exposed me to all of the ways healthcare systems can breakdown for people living without reliable access to healthcare. While these issues were certainly concentrated in underserviced communities throughout my career I have seen this pattern persist across economic, geographic, and educational gaps. For those who have not either lived it, or been intentionally educated on the issues there is an incomplete understanding of the ways our healthcare system is unable to respond to patients across a continuum of needs. That lack of understanding is a barrier to effective solutions.

The number one leadership principal that guides me is maintaining goodwill. If you go into every situation with the assumption that people have a good reason for thinking the way they do or behaving the way they do, then you are open to real innovation and partnership. Without goodwill, teams become inefficient and loose opportunities to collaborate and partner, exploring the differences in thoughts and opinions rather than avoiding them.

Adapting to Healthcare's Evolving Challenges

The biggest challenge in healthcare is that we have loaded the providers down with too many tasks. Instead of creating systems that are frictionless for providers, our solutions have typically involved simply adding additional work onto the shoulders of providers.

This is leading to burn out, early retirement, and providers shifting to nonclinical or administrative healthcare positions. AI is certainly going to be part of the solution and where it will be successfully deployed is where it does not simply replace one administrative task for additional patient visits or volume, but is seen for it’s value in improving the work life balance of providers.

The Evolving Role of Primary Care

Preventive care and population health are driven by primary care. I think one of the positive developments in the space has been value based care and the ability to compensate primary care providers based on the provision of excellent care as opposed to a pure productivity model.

This has allowed for better compensation and in some cases small panel practices that look more like concierge. Our ability to promote primary care as a reasonable alternative to surgical and medical subspecialty care will be critical in the coming years.

A Vision for the Next Generation

The advice I would give is to always trust your experience and what you are passionate about. A genuine desire to change the wellness of your community is a worthwhile cause and it can be done. Emerging leaders should never let themselves be discouraged by the enormity of what they are trying to accomplish. The world can be a better place, and our emerging leaders are part of how we will get there.