St. Joseph's Physician Clinical Council

The purpose of the Physician Clinical Council (PCC) is to bring the perspective of representative physicians to the administrative decision making process under the direction of the President of St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center.

The objectives are:

  • to enhance the quality of patient care
  • to improve the working relationship between the physician community and the administrative leadership
  • to increase the health of the community
  • to enhance strategic planning and goal and direction setting of the organization.

Mission Statement: Build a community of trust that enhances communication to facilitate decision making that ultimately optimizes patient care.

Composition of St. Joseph's Physician Clinical Council

The Physician Clinical Council is composed of physicians who represent the major services and disciplines offered by St. Joseph's. There are 12 physician representatives, but that number may be changed from time to time as appropriate and as determined by the hospital President. Each representative physician on the PCC is paired with an administrative leader. Each of these pairs is responsible for representing a defined set of clinical services.

Meetings Schedule

The Physician Clinical Council meets for 90 minutes on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays every month. If a physician member of the PCC is unable to attend regularly, the hospital President may opt to seek a replacement physician who is able to represent the same set of clinical services.

Physician Member Qualifications and Expectations

Each physician who represents a set of clinical services will:

  1. Be in active clinical practice (at least 50% of the time) and have medical staff privileges at St. Joseph's.
  2. Attend at least 75% of the regularly scheduled meetings of the PCC.
  3. Be a well respected member of the medical staff.
  4. Be a good communicator with an open communication style.
  5. Be capable of representing the specific set of services that he or she is asked to represent.
  6. Understand the need to identify clearly any conflicts of interest that influence his or her opinions and views whenever necessary.

Term

Physician Clinical Council physician representatives serve for a three year term. A representative may serve up to three consecutive terms subject to the hospital President’s approval.

Commitment

Each member of the Physician Clinical Council, both administrative and physician, commits to, understands and agrees to abide by the following meeting principles and expectations, to:

  1. “Be present”, actively engaged and prepared.
  2. Support meetings that begin and end on time. No “backing up” for latecomers.
  3. Have no “hidden agendas”.
  4. Speak freely and listen attentively.
  5. Avoid interrupting. Everyone gets their say, not necessarily their way.
  6. Trust the other members of the council.
  7. Maintain confidential what the group agrees to keep confidential, as outlined in summary at the end of each meeting.
  8. Recognize that silence equals agreement.
  9. Minimize distractions such as beepers/cell phones, etc.
  10. All team members are equally important.
  11. Communicate with one voice once agreement is reached.
  12. Processes and approaches will be discussed, analyzed or attacked, not people.
  13. No sidebars.
  14. Always have a timekeeper, a facilitator and a minute keeper.
  15. Get information and “homework” out before the meeting whenever possible.