Jeffry A. Peters is a health care executive.

Why organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast in health care

Conditions
January 22, 2026

Eighteen months ago, I learned something every patient hopes never to hear: that my cancer had returned. Years earlier, I had been treated successfully for prostate cancer. When my PSA began to rise again, I knew something was wrong. It took persistence and more than a few second opinions to confirm what my instincts already told me.

That journey eventually led me to a leading cancer center. I had already seen …

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Why organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast in health care

Ending physicians’ addiction to unhappiness

Conditions
February 21, 2025

A large number of physicians are addicted to unhappiness. Practicing medicine is no longer fun, and they are frustrated working in an environment where they do not feel valued and appreciated. Forty percent of all physicians are looking to change their employment venue over the next two years, according to a recent survey by the AMA.

Physicians’ unhappiness is understandable.

Reimbursement by Medicare and other payors is declining, while the costs of …

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Ending physicians’ addiction to unhappiness

Why health systems must renegotiate contracts to survive

Policy
January 22, 2025

Providers must stop subsidizing payors’ profit margins. Consider UnitedHealthcare, which boasts a 6 percent margin on revenue (equivalent to $22 billion), while hospitals manage a slim 3 percent margin, and physician practices often struggle to stay financially viable. This imbalance underscores the urgent need for hospitals, health systems, and physicians to negotiate rates that not only cover their costs but also generate margins sufficient to offer competitive salaries and reinvest …

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Why health systems must renegotiate contracts to survive

I knew hospitals were not taking good care of doctors. But when I became a patient, I experienced it.

Conditions
January 2, 2025

I have spent nearly half a century in the world of health care leadership, first in management and later as a consultant. Throughout my career, one of my most consistent observations has been that most health care organizations do not treat physicians very well.

I knew it because I saw it nearly every day in the hospitals I worked with. But it wasn’t until this year that I experienced firsthand how …

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I knew hospitals were not taking good care of doctors. But when I became a patient, I experienced it.