Physician executive leadership.

Administrators are joining hands with physician executives to confront the challenges of the changing healthcare environment. Who is this new breed of physician--the physician executive? The author presents a model of physician executive leadership based on in-depth interviews with 45 physician executives in a tertiary care health center. Five physician executive patterns emerge from the research: the practice, profession, self, organization, and syntonic physician executive. The unique qualities of each pattern are discussed, and suggestions are offered for building effective administrator/physician executive partnerships.