Why are we here?

We are Clinicians Lead. Welcome to our blog!

My name is Aaron Relic. Clinicians Lead is a team endeavor between myself and my wife Micah, who is also a physician. Look out for her first post! I am a Physician Anesthesiologist, residency program director at Oklahoma State University, and a partner in the private practice group that manages the residency. I’ve recently completed a Doctorate in Healthcare Administration, and I was able to earn an MBA with my medical school training. My goal in this endeavor is to encourage and equip physicians and other health professionals to step out of their comfort zone to take on leadership roles and potentially go into private practice if it is right for them. Having healthcare professionals regaining autonomy and actually steering the direction of medicine is the only way to start improving our nation’s broken healthcare system. You have the ability to do this, and I hope I can share some things to show you it’s not as hard as it seems–and it’s definitely worth it.

I’m starting to see more and more physicians publicly espouse some of the major issues that we have in the healthcare system. I wish I was as witty as Dr. Glaucomflecken. Unfortunately my humor consists solely of corny dad jokes, and if my audience at work doesn’t laugh, I can just push the propofol a little faster.

The healthcare system is set up for us to lose more and more autonomy. Most of us received zero business education during medical training. We are probably all seeing the consequences of this with the rampant burnout of many of our colleagues. We have also probably all seen some of the data reflecting this situation. According to a Becker’s report in 2024, over 77% of U.S. physicians are employed by hospitals, health systems, or corporate entities, a trend that seems to be increasing over time. Medical school teaches you a vast amount. We learn how this beautifully complex thing we call a body works and how to fix it when things break down, but medical school fails in teaching physicians how to truly succeed. Today's healthcare environment in the United States is bogged down with bureaucracy. This comes from regulation and also in administration. There is a disconnect between many of these non-clinical leaders and what it takes to truly care for our patients and our partners providing their care, which is why these places of healing exist. Ultimate strategic direction should be led by those who have had boots on the ground in treating patients.

Most healthcare professionals today coming out of school feel ill-equipped to take on a leadership role at a hospital or run their own practice. I get it. It takes much less effort to solely focus on the technical aspects of our profession–to show up, take care of patients, and go home without having to think about the direction of the business as a whole; without having to worry about payroll for employees; without having to stress about insurance and compliance and any number of things that are necessary but not the most rewarding to tackle for many of us. Taking this approach also robs us of our autonomy and allows the perpetuation of a system that is not optimized for patient care and is a recipe for burnout.

In undergrad, I never took a business course. I sought as much scientific knowledge (and history) as I could, but I had no idea what anything in the business world really looked like. I didn't understand the language. Many of you probably feel this way now. Through no pursuit of my own, my colleagues kept choosing me to be in a leadership role. It wasn’t until the end of my residency that I decided to step up and take ownership in my own development as a leader. I try to instill in my residents many of these skills and share resources, and I’m going to do that here as well. Some of these are “soft skills” that really aren’t soft at all. Others are the nuts and bolts of what to expect in running a business. I hope this gives you the confidence to take on leadership roles that our profession has largely abandoned and bring about some change that our healthcare system needs.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!