Henry Ford Health Systems: Human Resources Models

During my senior year of undergraduate studies at Wayne State University, I shadowed a pediatrics physician at a Henry Ford Medical Group center in Dearborn, MI. The HFMG is part of Henry Ford Health Systems. The Henry Ford Health Systems employs over 23,000 employees while the HFMG employs over 1,300 senior staff physicians and researchers along with 3,100 non-physician providers and support staff. “The HFMG generates $750M in net revenue, which represents about 33% of total HFHS provider revenues” (Kelley 2011). The HFMG physicians specialize in over 40 different medical specialties and work in 30 different medical centers and 5 different hospitals across southeast Michigan. The specialties include cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, sports medicine, multi-organ transplants and cancer treatment (henryford.com).
The Henry Ford Health Systems Human Resources department operates under an organized structure. The HFMG is organized as a blend of group and academic practice. The HFMG Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chairs, and Center Directors lead it (Kelley 2011). The body that oversees the different departments, including the Human Resources department, is an elected Board of Governors (Figure 1). Figure 1 can help in visualizing all this. The head of the Human Resources Department is also the senior vice president and is considered to be high up on the administration totem pole. “Human resources directors are key members of the top administrative group in many healthcare systems, and most report to the CEO, reflecting the industrial model. Placement at that top management level promotes better institutional decisions by encouraging all other administrators to give weight t...

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