Construct Clarity in Physician-Hospital Alignment: The Need for Precision in Definition, Measurement, and Management Comment on "Alignment in the Hospital-Physician Relationship: A Qualitative Multiple Case Study of Medical Specialist Enterprises in the Netherlands".

Abstract

The study by Ubels and van Raaij highlights the importance of alignment in hospital-physician relationships and the challenges in understanding, measuring, and managing it. Despite extensive research on alignment, drawing precise conclusions about its nature, drivers, and outcomes is difficult due to construct clarity and construct validity issues. This commentary focuses on clarifying these issues and the problems they create for hospitals attempting to manage alignment, as well as for scientific inquiry in this area. These issues involve the need to specify more clearly the essential nature of alignment and how it is distinct from other constructs such as engagement. It also involves demarcating alignment from the structures, arrangements, or processes intended to foster it, as well as from its outcomes. Improved precision in these areas will enable the development of more reliable and valid measures, thereby supporting hypothesis testing, theory building, and the identification of best practices.