At some level, all physicians can be considered to be leaders — an expectation that society has of the medical profession. The American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL) delivers on supporting this expectation by maximizing the potential of physician leaders to create personal and organizational transformation in the healthcare industry, which simultaneously benefits patient outcomes, augments workforce wellness, and improves healthcare delivery nationally and internationally.
For 50 years, AAPL has been the world’s premier organization for supporting all aspects of physician leadership in every sector of healthcare. AAPL is the only professional organization that focuses solely on providing information resources, leadership and management education, career development services, and thought leadership research designed for the physician workforce, the organizations where physicians are engaged or represented, and the healthcare industry overall.
Since its founding in 1975, beyond the greater than quarter million physicians already influenced, thousands of physicians and other inter-professional clinicians continue to participate annually with AAPL’s leadership development approaches. AAPL has an active individual membership community and an organizational constituency located in upward of 40 countries.
AAPL was initiated by Roger Schenke as the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE). Schenke had identified a crucial gap in the medical profession’s education system: the need for physicians to be educated and trained in management and leadership principles. At that time, the association focused primarily on educating mid-career physicians in pursuit of administrative roles within hospitals.
To this day, medical training and business courses in higher education still do not effectively, or adequately, provide medical professionals with an in-depth understanding of these principles. Since its inception, AAPL has remained the premier organization for leadership development among healthcare professionals. As healthcare continues to evolve rapidly, the need for developing improved leadership and management skills remains crucial.
Recognizing the necessity of a broader perspective for those physicians interested in leadership or management roles, in 2012 the association was rebranded as AAPL, and its mission has continually evolved to better meet and anticipate the leadership needs of physicians, organizations, and patients in this complex industry.
While the core mission of enhancing physician leadership skills has remained consistent over time, AAPL has adopted a deeper and more comprehensive approach to leadership development by diversifying its programs, products, and services, as well as by expanding its offerings to include inter-professional healthcare leaders and their respective organizations. The association continues to evolve as a significant thought leader and influencer in the international healthcare industry as well.
The industry-standard physician leadership credential, Certified Physician Executive (CPE), originated with AAPL. The CPE program now has amassed nearly 30 years of competency-based, educational programming and credentialing experience with physician leadership. There are almost 5000 CPE program alumni, and they come from a wide range of backgrounds, institutions, and countries. These alumni, individually and collectively, have created significant levels of institutional and industry-wide change as a result of their CPE education and related experiences.
Numerous institutions and search companies recognize the significance and impact of these alumni and frequently seek CPE-credentialed physicians when considering physician leaders in their programs. Additionally, a large number of hospitals and health systems train members of their medical staff with the educational course offerings from the AAPL CPE program and encourage their staff to obtain the full CPE credential.
Graduates of all AAPL programs, including the CPE program, have become transformative leaders at various levels of healthcare in both traditional and nontraditional roles. This community of healthcare leaders has successfully shifted their organizations’ foci toward true patient-centered, value-based care by integrating innovative practices to enhance organizational performance and improve health outcomes through inter-professional collaboration.
AAPL’s core mission remains constant: to improve the overall quality, safety, efficiency, and value of contemporary healthcare by leveraging the widely recognized legacy relationship between patients and physicians — a relationship that continues to be the dominant driver of the healthcare industry (and its various sectors) across all continents.
The CPE Capstone event, among all the AAPL successes over this half-century of AAPL experience, deserves special mention. As currently structured, the CPE Capstone is experienced over a long weekend of focused activities specifically designed to truly transform the physician leader toward a seasoned and mature appreciation for leadership in healthcare.
Participants typically apply to the Capstone event through their AAPL educational programming, but an alternate application process is available for those with an already established master’s degree credential. Regardless of the approach, uniformly, all participants rate the experience highly (average Net Promoter Scores of 80 to 90) and value the impact of their experience for the duration of their careers. The peer-to-peer networking and life-long professional relationships formed are incalculable.
There has been gradual recognition within the formal medical education enterprise of related associations that medical training should provide medical trainees with an improved approach to leadership and management principles. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) have each launched new initiatives focused on healthcare administration leadership and management (HALM).
The ACGME has set criteria for accreditation of institutional fellowship training programs in HALM (www.acgme.org/programs-and-institutions/institutions/sponsoring-institution-based-fellowships/health-care-administration-leadership-and-management/), and a number of education programs have begun to implement these fellowship training programs. Similarly, within the ABMS, the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) is now recognized as the administrative board inside the umbrella of ABMS for setting a new board certification program for qualified applicants in HALM (www.abem.org/subspecialty-get-certified/health-care-administration-leadership-and-management-halm/).
At the time of this writing, three other ABMS boards had also decided to work with ABEM in this regard: 1) the American Board of Anesthesia (ABA); 2) the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM); and 3) the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM). It is expected that other ABMS Boards will gradually embrace this board certification opportunity as well.
With the widely recognized and extensive long-term legacy of AAPL in this educational arena, both ACGME and ABMS solicited and embraced AAPL in their development of these HALM initiatives from the beginning. And while it may initially appear counterintuitive, the leadership of AAPL is very supportive of these HALM initiatives, has embraced the opportunity of this transition in medical education, and has readily initiated its own set of programs, products, and services oriented toward the support of HALM activities and its eventual community. Additionally, AAPL remains in close contact with ACGME and ABMS/ABEM, as well as the other ABMS constituent boards, on the future evolution of HALM activities.
In this regard, AAPL launched a new journal in 2023 fully focused on HALM: the Healthcare Administration Leadership & Management Journal (HALM Journal) . The association also launched a HALM online community for those interested in peer-to-peer networking and already has numerous competency-based educational offerings in support of HALM.
In addition to the existing deep well of AAPL information resources for HALM, the AAPL educational offerings also provide valuable content for fellowship training programs, board certification preparation, and continuing medical education, as well as for the eventual maintenance of certification. AAPL remains as a resource for individuals seeking advanced experience with HALM as well as for institutions offering or considering offering HALM fellowship programs.
The well-established AAPL CPE credential, the CPE Capstone event, and the developing HALM initiatives will become complementary to each over time. This type of complementarity already exists between the AAPL CPE credential and the variety of university-based master’s degree programs.
The growing community hosted by AAPL for all types of physician leaders supports everyone, regardless of credentials or number of credentials. AAPL is clearly the community of choice for physician leadership and intends to remain as the premiere leadership association for many years to come.
All of this brings us to the topic of a HALM textbook. AAPL recognized, given AAPL’s expertise and history of successful publications, that a textbook for the rapidly evolving HALM environment was needed, almost immediately, by those institutions and individuals with an interest in pursuing a variety of activities with HALM. Fortunately for AAPL, an exceptional lead editor became readily evident: Dan Handel.
Dan Handel, MD, MBA, MPH, CPE, FACHE, FACEP, is Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Central Area, for Atrium Health, and Clinical Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University. His areas of research include access to care, health policy, and emergency department crowding. He is the author of 52 peer-reviewed publications, 16 articles, 3 textbooks, 17 book chapters, and 22 abstracts.
Handel, together with his 44 expert contributors from across the nation and representing various specialties, has put together an exceptional resource that is certain to become recognized as the leading authority in HALM education. This new AAPL Healthcare Administration, Leadership, and Management textbook covers all of the relevant topic areas for anyone pursuing HALM education and board certification. It is also an invaluable resource for those who are responsible for developing a training program in HALM that will be able to withstand the rigor of an ACGME accreditation review, and a program where graduates will be able to pass HALM board certification comfortably.
AAPL remains recognized internationally as the predominant physician leadership professional association, given that its breadth and depth of resources are second to none. AAPL is exceedingly proud to be able to bring this HALM textbook forward to the healthcare industry. Moreso, AAPL is extremely grateful to the editor and contributors for their energy, expertise, and efforts in making this textbook such an exceptional offering.
This resource promises to be an essential element toward facilitating the birth and growth of a new, rich community of HALM alumni and committed physician leaders. The eventual benefits to the healthcare industry on a global basis are already incalculable.
On a personal level, it has been humbling to observe and learn not only from the individuals committed to developing the various HALM initiatives across the United States, but also to those developing this new HALM textbook and the host of other HALM resources gradually coming to the surface. The constellation of these resources is invaluable because they will eventually create significant change and the betterment of our industry. Thanks to each and every one who have become connected as a result of embracing the concept of HALM.
For those not yet fully appreciative of what HALM represents, start with this book; it is exceptional and will provide all you need to upgrade your awareness and understanding.
Excerpted from Healthcare Administration, Leadership, and Management (HALM): The Essentials, First Edition (American Association for Physician Leadership, 2025).