Most practice administrators can rattle off their job’s biggest to-dos: staffing, margins, schedules, payer drama, the inbox that never empties. What doesn’t make the job description (but quietly shapes all those tasks) is stewardship of identity: the practice’s mission, vision, and values (MVV).

Mission explains why the organization exists, vision sets the destination, and values define the nonnegotiable behaviors for how care is delivered and how people lead. In modern governance guidance, culture and values are treated as a strategic asset the board must routinely oversee.

That oversight only works because someone is translating it into everyday operations. In most medical groups, that “someone” is the administrator.

• You organize and support the board that owns MVV content.
• You translate those statements into policies, dashboards and expectations.
• You notice when decisions drift away from what the organization says it stands for — or when the statements are so vague they can’t guide anything.

In the framework of organizational governance, medical practice leaders are expected to “facilitate the corporate legal structure and governance for the organization” and “integrate the corporate mission, vision and values statement into the organization’s culture.”

This feature focuses on that second expectation: how administrators can use MVV as a real governance tool, not just wall art.

Current challenges in mission, vision, and values

Recent MGMA Stat polling suggests a mixed picture on culture and identity:

• In a February 2025 poll, just over half (52%) of medical group leaders said they were satisfied with their organization’s culture, while 40% were not and 8% were unsure.
• In an earlier poll, about 22% of leaders reported not having a vision statement at all.

At the same time, MGMA research on burnout and culture points to organizational culture — not just workload — as a core driver of clinician distress and turnover. Practice administrators are identified as some of the most influential leaders in shaping how culture, mission and values actually show up in behavior and decisions.