Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb topped Modern Healthcare's annual list of the "50 Most Influential Clinical Executives" for the second consecutive year.

5 must-answer questions to strengthen your physician leadership development program

About the rankings

Modern Healthcare renamed this year's list, which was previously called the "50 Most Influential Physicians Executives and Leaders," to honor physician and nurse leaders working in the health care industry.

Your data-driven road map for physician engagement

For the 15th annual list, Modern Healthcare accepted nominations for licensed clinicians who have an executive title of SVP or higher. From a list of 150 finalists, Modern Healthcare compiled its final ranking of 50 leaders, based on readers' votes as well as input from Modern Healthcare's senior editors. To judge the nominees, Modern Healthcare looked at:

• Actions the nominee took to help the organization meet its financial, operational, and clinical goals;
• Steps the nominee took to encourage innovation and transformation within the organization; and
• Examples of how the nominee has tried to advance the triple aim of improving community health and patient experience while lowering costs.

Who made the list

Along with Gottlieb, the top 10 clinical executives on the list are:

• Robert Grossman, CEO of NYU Langone Health (No. 2);
• Mark Schuster, founding dean and CEO of Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine (No. 3);
• Donald Rucker, national coordinator for HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (No. 4);
• Barbara McAneny, immediate past president of the American Medical Association (No. 5);
• Stephen Klasko, CEO of Jefferson Health (No. 6);
• Marc Harrison, president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare (No. 7);
• Kate Goodrich, CMO of CMS (No. 8);
• Nancy Howell Agee, president and CEO of Carilion Clinic (No. 9); and
• Patrick Conway, president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (No. 10).

Here are 4 ways to be a less-stressed leader

Other hospital and health system leaders who made the list include:

• Mitchell Katz, president and CEO of NYC Health & Hospitals (No. 11);
• Tomislav Mihaljevic, president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic (No. 12);
• Rod Hochman, president and CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health (No. 13);
• Sachin Jain, president and CEO CareMore Health (No. 15);
• Gary Kaplan, chair and CEO of Virginia Mason (No. 17);
• Rhonda Medows, president of population health management for Providence St. Joseph Health (No. 18);
• Jaewon Ryu, president and CEO of Geisinger Health (No. 19);
• Steven Corwin, president and CEO of New York-Presbyterian (No.20);
• Gianrico Farrugia, president and CEO of Mayo Clinic (No. 21);
• Joanne Conroy, president and CEO of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (No. 23);
• Nick Turkal, Co-president and CEO of Advocate Aurora Health (No. 24);
• Laura Forese, EVP and COO of New York-Presbyterian (No. 25);
• Bechara Choucair, SVP and community health officer at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals (No. 26);
• Jonathan Perlin, president of clinical services and CMO of HCA (No. 28);
• Andrew Pecora, former president of physician services and chief innovation officer of Hackensack Meridian Health (No. 29);
• Susan Turney, CEO of Marshfield Clinic Health System (No. 33);
• Madeline Bell, president and CEO of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (No. 34);
• Tony Farah, EVP, chief medical and clinical transformation officer at Highmark Health (No. 36);
• Anthony Slonim, president and CEO of Renown Health (No. 37);
• Tommye Austin, SVP and chief nurse executive for University Health System (No 38);
• Penny Wheeler, president and CEO of Allina Health (No. 40);
• Regina Cunningham, CEO of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (No. 41);
• Larry Kaiser, president and CEO of Temple University Health System (No. 46);
• Richard Shinto, President and CEO of InnovaCare Health (No. 47);
• Tony Tedeschi, CEO of Detroit Medical Center (No. 48); and
• Jane Englebright, SVP and chief nursing executive at HCA (No. 50).

State, federal, and local government officials who made the list include:

• Mandy Cohen, secretary of North Carolina Deparmtent of Health and Human Services (No. 30);
• Carolyn Clancy, deputy undersecretary for discovery, education, and affiliate networks at Veterans Health Administration (No. 32);
• Jerome Adams, U.S. surgeon general for HHS (No. 35); and
• Raquel Bono, director of the Defense Health Agency (No. 39) (Modern Healthcare list, accessed 6/21; Modern Healthcare's methodology, accessed 6/21).

5 must-answer questions to strengthen your physician leadership program

Most hospitals and health systems invest in physician leadership development to build physician leadership capacity. However, these programs often fall flat, either because program goals lack a concrete link to system priorities, or attendance is poor and few new leaders emerge.

This new briefing includes five key questions to help clinical executives create a physician leadership development strategy or strengthen their existing program.