Who should lead a healthcare organization: MDs or MBAs?

Debates often arise about who is best suited to manage a healthcare organization. Therefore, we argue that an examination of the ability of healthcare organizations' chief executive officers (CEOs) to make strategic decisions is warranted. Is the most appropriate leader the medically educated CEO, whose training in patient care allows him or her to be most cognizant of the quality-of-care needs of the organization? Or is it the managerially educated CEO, whose training makes him or her most aware of the organization's financial needs? This article presents a study involving senior managers from two integrated healthcare organizations. The study revealed that no significant differences exist between medically educated and managerially educated senior managers in their ability to make strategic decisions that maximize the net income or the quality of care of the healthcare organization. The debate that pits the "MDs" against the "MBAs" is misdirected. Characteristics other than educational degree appear to have a stronger influence on a CEO's ability to make successful strategic decisions. Therefore, candidates' educational background should not play such an important role in the processes for selecting CEOs.