Making the Grade

Physician MBA Program Creates Medical Entrepreneurs and Physician Executives

Stahl says the second set of motivations is more reactive in nature. “It’s the physician who has practiced for a substantial amount of time or been in a leadership role for a while, but is fed up with being beaten up by rules and regs, by insurance companies, by malpractice attorneys who are suing them. They are frustrated by not being able to practice healthcare as they aspired to while in medical school. They don’t like the fact that managed care tells them they cannot authorize treatment for a patient because it’s too expensive in the opinion of a non-physician person.”

“We also see a fair number of physicians who want to do something different,” Stahl adds. “Perhaps they are at a mid-point in their career, having worked in a clinical capacity for a couple of decades and now they want to try their hand at leadership. In either scenario, PEMBA was developed for a very unique student — the current or future physician executive. We based our curriculum on extensive research into what physicians want in an MBA program.”

Because physicians want a program that gives them skills to assume leadership positions in their organizations, PEMBA conducts comprehensive assessments and a trained facilitator is assigned to each student to support and challenge them to develop their leadership potential.

The classes feature experiential leadership exercises, and team-building activities are provided throughout the program. Leaders in the healthcare industry present guest lectures throughout the year, offering insights into the joys and frustrations of leading healthcare organizations in today’s turbulent environment.

“PEMBA is very real-world oriented,” says Millermaier. “I am not sure a class of 30-plus physicians would tolerate anything else. This does not mean that there is not an academic component; it is always applied to real-world situations, which students appreciate. It has been a pleasure to get to know others with similar career paths. I have new friends and colleagues for life. Each of us takes out of PEMBA both the basics of business education and that which we need on our own. For physicians interested in advancement of their business skills, who want a short-duration, all-physician business education, I would say the PEMBA program is the obvious choice.”

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