NEW YORK – Newsweek is intrigued by the phenomenon of ‘The Rise of White-Coat CEOs’. That is the headline of a recent article that included Dr. Steven Kalkanis, a neurological surgeon-turned-CEO, in its spotlight.

Author Alexis Kayser notes that “medical doctors… have historically held seats in health system conference rooms. But the MD executives of the past tended toward physician-specific roles, becoming vice presidents of medical affairs, chief clinical officers and chief medical officers.” The tides, however, “are turning… Doctors have become sought-after candidates for health systems’ helms.”

“What we’re seeing is more and more physicians making their way into the CEO role, the president role of hospitals and health systems,” according to Linda Komnick of the executive search and advisory firm WittKieffer. “Over the years, they have become much more involved in strategy and have a seat at that table,” as “Health systems’ priorities are changing, and they demand new skill sets at the top, she reports.

Dr. Kalkanis told Newsweek “his experiences as a physician have shaped his understanding of forthcoming delivery models like value-based care. Dr. Kalkanis is the executive vice president of Henry Ford Health and CEO of both its 877-bed flagship hospital and 1,900-physician medical group.”

“I don’t see how you can make this about value-based care without the care provider, because what value-based care really is trying to optimize is the patient outcome,” Dr. Kalkanis said. “And so you have to have someone who is trained in the delivery of health and in disease entity.”

The article notes that “physicians aren’t the only executives who prioritize patients, Dr. Kalkanis clarified – but they’ve been uniquely acquainted with the health system’s mission.”

Dr. Kalkanis continued: “For physicians, I think we do have a special experience when you go through training and especially residency, and you take calls in the middle of the night, and you see people at their most vulnerable… That somehow gets ingrained into our own professional DNA and helps inform leadership decisions when it comes to putting yourself in that moment.”

He believes that the medical and business worlds can be reconciled, that it doesn’t have to be a ‘zero-sum game’. Newsweek writes that “his philosophy is that if you do right by patients, more patients will come to the facility, more people will want to work there, more collaborators will come and more government leaders will want to invest.”

Dr. Kalkanis emphasized: “By keeping [patients] at the forefront, some of the business challenges kind of go away because you’re creating much more investment, and you’re enriching the institution.”