Reading Health System Continues to Align and Engage Its Physician Leaders by Expanding the Reach of the Applied Physician Leadership Academy(C)

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Apr 18, 2017) - Reading Health System, in conjunction with The Leadership Development Group, is changing its culture by focusing on physician leadership, alignment, and engagement. This month twenty-eight of the top ranked physician leaders from Reading Health System (RHS) graduated from The Leadership Development Group's Applied Physician Leadership Academy (APLA©), an 18-month customized leadership development program, designed to engage and develop physician leaders. And in January 2017, twenty-six emerging physician leaders joined together from across the organization to kick off a second cohort of the APLA that will run through March 2018. The program, intended to engage, inspire, and motivate leadership development for physicians, includes structured training courses focusing on development of leadership skills and competencies; mentoring and networking, assessments, coaching and feedback; and the process to apply learning and develop leadership competencies through work on real business problems.

"We started this multi-year program in February 2016 with Department Chairs, Section Chiefs, and physician leaders from Reading Health. TLD Group's blended learning approach has proven most effective for the development of our leaders," said Clint Mathews, President & CEO of Reading Health. "Our physician leaders worked collaboratively to tackle some of the most pressing issues and the recommendations they made during their Capstone presentations were among the most innovative ideas I've heard all year."

A number of the participants have continued to work together to move their action learning projects into the broader organizational system. The successful nature of the APLA program has further sparked the development of physician-led initiatives and a reinvigorated sense of organizational connection and community. "The APLA has served as a catalyst for strengthening relationships between physician leaders and administrative leaders -- it's been very successful," said Russ Showers, VP of HR.

"We are thrilled to be working with the leadership team of Reading Health System to launch the second cohort for the APLA," said Tracy Duberman President & CEO of TLD Group. "The APLA enables physicians to develop leadership capacity in four main clusters on Leading Self, Leading for Results, Leading Others, and Leading Change."

"The APLA experience has made me a stronger leader. As leaders, we are often asked to handle situations that are challenging and have difficult conversations with our colleagues, and this experience allows me to do that with a better skillset and a higher level of confidence," said Vinti Shah, DO, Chief, Section of Palliative Medicine, Reading Health System. "One of my favorite experiences with APLA has been the ability to work with a phenomenal team that I may not have otherwise had the opportunity to collaborate with."

Reading Health (www.readinghealth.org), headquartered in West Reading, PA, is an integrated, nonprofit healthcare system serving communities in Berks and surrounding counties.

The Leadership Development Group (www.tldgroupinc.com) partners with healthcare organizations, including providers, payers, and pharmaceutical companies, to provide talent development solutions.