Competing on professionalism: Integrating patient care principles core values can boost performance.

Health system boards of directors and executives are positioning themselves to have a profound effect on medical professionalism in the United States. As market forces continue to draw physicians into health system or accountable care organization alignment, the opportunity for local health systems to define, promote, measure, monitor and reward professional behavior is growing and creating the possibility of revitalizing medical professionalism. Trustees and C-suite members can seize this opportunity by incorporating the values of medical professionalism into their formal organizational value set, and assuming accountability for advancing medical professionalism in their communities.