Clinical Executive Medicine Program (CEMED)

The CEMED program is a four-year elective longitudinal curriculum providing insights into the clinician executive skills and knowledge essential to addressing the complex leadership challenges resulting from healthcare organizational and health policy changes that impact the way clinicians provide care.  It emphasizes the importance of collaboration among clinician leaders and non-clinician administrative leaders in healthcare delivery organizations today and in the future.

Students are considered for admission to the CEMED Program through a competitive application processsupplemental to the application for admission to the College of Medicine.  The process includes a supplemental application form and evaluation of student leadership experience. Participating students must be in good standing in the College of Medicine in order to continue in this longitudinal elective program.  It is recognized that successful progression through the core medical curriculum is a priority;therefore, if conflicts arise between the elective CEMED program components and the core curriculum,student’s first priority is the core curriculum. The course director will excuse students from CEMED activities if there are conflicts with the regular College of Medicine curriculum and make alternative arrangements formissed CEMED work.

The CEMED program seeks to begin development of future clinician executives in health care who will be capable of integrating the insights and skills of the experienced clinician with the perspectives and skills of health system administrators.  The unique characteristics of the health care enterprise and the intimate services provided to each patient demand the integration of these clinician and executive special insights that have no parallel in any other industry.  This is a particular challenge because the professional development of clinicians does not generally provide understanding of the management and population-based perspectives necessary for administration of a healthcare organization.

The outcome of the Clinician Executive Medicine Program experience is for medical students todevelop a strong understanding of the profound stresses on the American health care system and the critical need for major reform requiring Clinician Executive insights that span the continuum from the intimate, individual physician-patient interaction to the complex population-based decision making in the executive suite and board room of integrated healthcare organizations serving large populations of patients.  The Clinician Executive Medicine Program seeks to provide insights into the clinician executive skills and knowledge essential to addressing this complex challenge. In addition,participants will build relationships with their cohort, a small group of 15-20 medical students per year who have shared interests in strategic innovation and clinical enterprise leadership inmedicine.

Participants will gain competency in interdisciplinary problem-solving, which includes an appreciation and understanding of varying perspectives brought from other disciplines, including health policy and politics, strategic planning, marketing, financial management, health economics, decision analysis, human resources, and ethics.  The Clinician Executive Medicine program is designed toprovide “real world” experiential, self-directed and team-oriented problem-based learning.  Ashealthcare organizational and health policy changes in medicine and healthcare continue to impact theway clinicians provide care, this program seeks to provide exposure and insights into executive decision-making and population health principles that are important to solve fundamental problems inclinical healthcare delivery.

Specific Learning Objective

Participants will be able to:

  1. Compare and contrast the roles of health system administrators and clinicians as leaders in the complex environment of health care delivery and the interface between administrators and clinicians.
  2. Summarize the process that creates current health policy.
  3. Acquire the basic language and principles used in health care finance.
  4. Describe the complexity of the socio-cultural issues affecting the health of the population.
  5. Show how a basic working knowledge of quality and effectiveness assessment and assurance improves clinical services to patients.
  6. Describe the basic elements of core ethical precepts of healthcare organizations and the conflicts that may arise.
  7. Describe the need for solutions to the interface of clinical services of healthcare organizations and community needs.
  8. Describe the importance of collaboration among the variety of clinical healthcare professionals in various healthcare organizations.
  9. Show how effectiveness of operations is influenced by the working relationships among medical staff, administrative staff, and board members in healthcare delivery organizations.
  10. Show how ethical marketing and sales strategies are important in healthcare delivery.
  11. Understand methods and value of health care outcomes evaluation and research.
  1. Seminars:
    • Monthly 1½ hour seminars addressing leadership and organizational challenges in healthcare systems, presented by clinician executives, administrators, and faculty, and accompanied by relevant readings
    • Examples of seminar topics:
      • Inter-professional Collaborative Practice
      • Health Disparities and Health Literacy
      • Quality Mandates Impact on Quality — Consequences of Physician Distractions
      • Healthcare Policy and Politics: Healthcare Reform Current and Future
      • Value Based Purchasing and Pay for Performance—the Impact on Quality Metrics and Physician Performance
      • Leadership and Courage
      • Academic Leadership Pathways – Learn from Mistakes
  2. CEMED Clinician Executive Mentor
    • Mentors for the CEMED Program are volunteers on all three campuses recruited from among members of the College of Medicine faculty, leadership team, and health system leaders from UI Health and College of Medicine affiliated institutions. Each student is assigned the same mentor for the entire four years.  Mentors provide contextual andrelevant information related to healthcare systems operations and leadership that augment the student experience in the more formalized portions of the CEMED curriculum comprising readings and seminars.
    • A key role of the mentor is advice and ongoing guidance on the student’s Special Project. The Special Project goal is to identify and engage in research and evaluation of current important organizational or operational challenges or opportunities facing healthcare delivery organizations affiliated with the College of Medicine or local, state, or federal government challenges in healthcare.
    • The mentor may recruit secondary mentors to collaborate on providing advice relevant to the topic of the student’s Special Project.
  3. Clinician Executive Summer Experience between M1 and M2 year:
    • Students will spend time during the M1/M2 summer interacting with their mentor to accomplish initial planning for their Special Project and insights into healthcare system organizations and operations. Mentors will also provide insights into the challenges of healthcare leadership in the College of Medicine, the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, or affiliated healthcare delivery organizations, and the various roles of the leadership team.  Mentors will meet regularly with the student, approximately weekly or on whatever flexible schedules during the summer best fit the mentor’s preferences.  When possible and appropriate, mentors will invite the student to observe meetings of departments, divisions, and committees addressing healthcare organizational and leadership issues.
    • During the M1/M2 summer, students are expected to commit approximately 90 hours to CEMED activity (the equivalent of one full day per week). The expected scheduled time commitment is flexible and can occur in concentrated weeks in the summer or distributed more broadly across the entire summer period. A key determinant of schedule is the availability of the student’s mentor.  Additionally, the student’s time commitment will include substantial individual time during the summer pursuing background literature reviews related to plans for the student’s Special Project.
    • In M2 fall, students will submit brief reports and presentations on their summer experience and Special Project preliminary plans.
  4. Clinician Executive Special Project
    • The CEMED Special Project is a primary element of the Program. Students address the Special Project throughout the four years of the CEMED Program with advice and oversight of their Clinician Executive Medicine  The goal is to identify and engage in background research on the Special Project, includingidentification and selection of a current important organizational or operational challenge or opportunity facing healthcare delivery organizations affiliated with the College of Medicine or local or state government challenges in healthcare.  Students are encouraged to address the Special Project work individually or in partnership with one other CEMED student.  Students will work on their Special Project with initial planning in M1 and more intensively during the summer between M1 and M2 and then intermittently throughout M2, M3 and M4 with advice of their mentors.

CEMED faculty are members of the College of Medicine and health sciences schools faculty leadership and administration.  CEMED faculty provide seminars addressing issues and challenges in health systems leadership and serve as individual mentors to CEMED students throughout the four-year program.

Mentors are assigned by the CEMED Program leadership at the beginning of the Program with the intent that students have the same mentor or mentors throughout the four years. If a student has a specific request for a mentor, the request will be honored if possible.

Student Assessment

Periodic review by the program directors, mentors, and faculty will monitor student participation and special project progress.  The objective of qualitative feedback during the program is constructive advice for the students’ career development.

The students’ principal faculty mentors who will provide advice and referrals to other faculty for collaboration on the Special Projects and students’ individual interests.

This elective is pass/fail.

  1. Seminars: Students will be evaluated for participation by the program directors.
  2. Clinician Executive Summer Experience, between M1 and M2 year: students will submit a written report and presentation to program directors and mentors, on their experience.
  3. Clinician Executive Special Project Development throughout all four years: student will work closelywith a mentor and/or other faculty to develop a Special Project. Mentors will provide feedback on student progress.
  4. Clinician Executive Special Project Showcase in M4: Students will submit a final paper andpresentation of Special Project to CEMED Program leadership and to Mentors and fellow students.