Celebrating the CPE: AAPL’s ‘Eyes Are on the Second 20 Years’

The organization is continuing to find ways to expand and create change in health care as a platform for physician leadership, the president and CEO says.

BOSTON, Mass. – As president and CEO Peter Angood, MD, FRCS(C), FACS, MCCM, puts it, the CPE program “is very much right at the center of what we’re trying to do” at the American Association for Physician Leadership.

Addressing hundreds of physicians during a luncheon in the Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton Boston, Angood said, “We continue to recognize that all physicians are leaders at some level.” | AAPL

The theme of the AAPL’s 2018 Thought Leadership Summit is the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Certified Physician Executive program, which has graduated nearly 3,000 people since it first began.

Addressing hundreds of physicians during a luncheon in the Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton Boston, Angood said, “We continue to recognize that all physicians are leaders at some level.”

Angood said the organization also is continuing to find ways to expand and create change in health care as a platform for that physician leadership, adding that “the CPE credential is really the most important piece of all of what we do.”

The past 20 years, however, is just the beginning, according to Richard Sites, AAPL’s chief learning officer.

“As we gather to celebrate 20 years of this amazing program, our eyes are on the next 20 years,” Sites said, noting that much is already being done to grow and develop education offerings and the CPE credential. And while there are many things we do to grow and develop our educational offerings and this credential, I do want to talk about three things that are important to us.

“We will continue to augment our high-quality, faculty expertly-led courses,” Sites said. “That curriculum, in maintaining its contemporary status, has helped organizations that rely on the CPE and their candidates and those who receive the credential to be able to add value to those organizations, and we’ll stay focused on that. The CPE credential is the utmost expression of the association’s membership. It is that first path toward demonstrating physician leadership.”

As part of the celebration, there were several audio and video tributes from former graduates of the CPE program, including Barbara Loeb, MD, MBA, CPE, FACP, FACPE, who said, “One of the most important things of the CPE is the experience of actually going through it – not necessarily having more letters after your name. CPE seems like another set of letters, but during that course I learned how to identify my leadership strengths. Having that experience was the first step off into actually being a physician leader. I look at it as the beginning step of a journey. … to put my toe in the water and lead my other physician colleagues.”

John Burroughs said, “The CPE has great meaning to the health care industry as a whole. It means as a physician, I’ve gone beyond my clinical training. … It means that I’m committed to management and that I have fundamental skills that I did not have when I completed medical school residency training.”

During lunch, Bob Hodge and Barbara Linney received awards for their instrumental help in moving the program to where it is today.