Calming fears, alleviating suffering, enhancing and saving lives -- this is what motivates doctors virtually every single day. When the structure and culture in which physicians work are well aligned, being a doctor is a most rewarding job. But something has gone wrong in the physician world, and it is urgent that we fix it.

Fundamental flaws in the US health care system make it more difficult and less rewarding than ever to be a doctor. The convergence of a complex amalgam of forces prevents primary care and specialty physicians from doing what they most want to do: Put their patients first at every step in the care process every time. Barriers include regulation, bureaucracy, the liability burden, reduced reimbursements, and much more. Physicians must accept the responsibility for guiding our nation toward a better health care delivery system, but the pathway forward -- amidst jarring changes in our health care system -- is not always clear.

In The Doctor Crisis, Dr. Jack Cochran, executive director of The Permanente Federation, and author Charles Kenney show how we can improve health care on a grassroots level, regardless of political policy disputes, by improving conditions for physicians and asking them to take on broader accountability; by calling on physicians to be effective leaders as well as excellent clinicians. The authors clarify the necessary steps required to enable physicians to focus on patient care and offer concrete ideas for establishing systems that place patients' needs above all else. Cochran and Kenney make a compelling case that fixing the doctor crisis is a prerequisite to achieving access to quality and affordable health care throughout the United States.
About the Author: Jack Cochran, MD, FACS, is the executive director of The Permanente Federation. The Permanente Federation represents the national interests of the regional Permanente Medical Groups, which employ more than 17,000 physicians who care for 9.1 million Kaiser Permanente members. Prior to this role, Dr. Cochran served as executive medical director, president, and chairman of the board of the Colorado Permanente Medical Group for Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Cochran serves as a member of the board of directors of the Alliance of Community Health Plans and the UCSF Global Health Group Advisory Board. He is also a past president of the Consortium for Community Centered Comprehensive Child Care (C6). Dr. Cochran earned his medical degree from the University of Colorado and served residencies at Stanford University Medical Center and the University of Wisconsin Hospital. He is board certified in otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) and in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Charles Kenney is the author of Transforming Health Care: Virginia Mason Medical Center's Pursuit of the Perfect Patient Experience, which received the 2012 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award. He is the author of two other works: The Best Practice: How the New Quality Movement Is Transforming Medicine, and coauthor, with Maureen Bisognano, of Pursuing the Triple Aim: Seven Innovators Show the Way to Better Care, Better Health, and Lower Cost. He formerly worked as a reporter and editor at the Boston Globe.