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Do effective meetings determine progress in research?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Progress in research is dependent on many success factors. In this review, we evaluate the importance of effective scientific meetings to achieve this progress. We focus on aspects that determine effective communication, such as length, size, interpersonal interactions, structure, and variety of meetings or conferences. Furthermore, we introduce the technique of a Syntegration® that offers a new tool to communicate effectively among managers today. It is discussed whether this process can be a useful structure for research meetings and whether it has the potential to generate decision-making and goals within this field...
Source: Health Services Management - October 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Scholz, T., Koehler, C., Evans, G. R D Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Patient satisfaction questionnaire and quality achievement in hospital care: the case of a Greek public university hospitalEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The scope of this research has been to investigate the satisfaction of Greek patients hospitalized in a tertiary care university public hospital in Alexandroupolis, Greece, in order to improve medical, nursing and organizational/administrative services. It is a cross-sectional study involving 200 patients hospitalized for at least 24 h. We administered a satisfaction questionnaire previously approved by the Greek Health Ministry. Four aspects of satisfaction were employed (medical, hotel facilities/organizational, nursing, global). Using principal component analysis, summated scales were formed and tested for internal cons...
Source: Health Services Management - October 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Matis, G. K, Birbilis, T. A, Chrysou, O. I Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Performance evaluation of ambulatory surgery centres: an efficiency approachEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper evaluates the performance of 198 ambulatory surgery centres (ASCs) operating in the State of Pennsylvania during the fiscal year 2006. Performance is assessed from technical efficiency view using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Multi-input/output model included two inputs: number of operating rooms and labour, and patient surgical visits differentiated by age groups: 0–17, 18–64, 65+ as three outputs. Input oriented models were employed to assess various DEA efficiency models. Results show that about 48 (24%) of ASCs are efficient with a mean efficiency score of 0.60. The results also indicate that ...
Source: Health Services Management - October 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Iyengar, R. N, Ozcan, Y. A Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Use of card sort methodology in the testing of a clinical leadership competencies modelEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the utility of a qualitative ‘card sort’ research tool – when it is merged with traditional quantitative data gathering methods – to add to our understanding about the nature of competency-based approaches to leadership studies. The study demonstrates how a qualitative technique (card sort) was used for the task of testing a clinical leadership competencies model. All the steps in the card sort methodology are described through its application to the research problem. The paper concludes that card sort has considerable use in adding to the validity of research...
Source: Health Services Management - October 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Jahrami, H., Marnoch, G., Gray, A. M. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Using mixed methods to identify factors influencing patient flowEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
An effective method of identifying operational factors that influence patient flow can potentially lead to improvements and thus have huge benefits on the efficiency of hospital departments. This paper presents a new inductive mixed-method approach to identify operational factors that influence patient flow through an accident and emergency (A&E) department. Preliminary explorative observations were conducted, followed by semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. A questionnaire survey of all medical, nursing, porter and clerical staff was then conducted. The observations provided factors for further exploratio...
Source: Health Services Management - October 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Van Vaerenbergh, C. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

An analysis of the factors influencing networkability in the health-care sectorEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In most industries of economy, the production structures evolved into activities characterized by a high division of labour between the business partners combined with specialization, the standardization of service components and extensive networking. In the health-care sector, the first signs of a similar development are beginning to crystallize. As a consequence, networkability, the ability to link up with other players on the basis of commonly agreed standards for the joint provisioning of patient-centred and cost-efficient health services will emerge to a key concept for future health service delivery. As not only tech...
Source: Health Services Management - October 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Mettler, T., Rohner, P. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Everybody's business: from policy to lived practice - the benefits of embedding specialist mental health workers in physical health-care systemsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
As Britain's population ages, health- and social-care systems face the challenge of continuing to provide high-quality care in the face of increased demand on services. Government policy has proposed meeting this challenge through integrated partnership working to enable people with complex, multiple needs to receive timely care closer to home. Co-morbid mental health needs, including dementia, are common in people with physical health issues, and must be addressed appropriately if systems are to provide the best possible all-round patient care. This paper describes how two senior clinical psychologists have developed an e...
Source: Health Services Management - October 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Read, J., Andrews, T. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

A revised approach to performance measurement for health-care estatesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The purpose of the research was to show how lean asset thinking can be applied to UK health-care facilities using different measures to compare the estates contribution to the business of health-care providers. The challenge to conventional wisdom matches that posed by ‘Lean Production’ to ‘Mass Manufacturing’. Data envelope analysis examined the income generated and patient-occupied area as outputs from the gross area of a NHS Trust's estate. The approach yielded strategic comparisons that conventional facilities management measures of cost per square metre hide. The annual cost of an excess estate...
Source: Health Services Management - October 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: May, D., Price, I. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Strategic information technology alliances for effective health-care supply chain managementEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
To gain and sustain competitive advantage, health-care providers have to continuously review and renovate their operational and information technology (IT) strategies through collaborative and cooperative endeavour with their supply chain channel members. This paper explores new ways of enhancing a health-care organization's responsiveness to changes and increasing its competitiveness through implementing strategic information technology alliances among channel members in a health-care supply chain network. An overview of issues and problems (e.g. bullwhip effect, negative externalities and free-riding phenomenon in multic...
Source: Health Services Management - July 23, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Shih, S. C, Rivers, P. A, Hsu, H Y S. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Chronic disease management and the home-care alternative in Ontario, CanadaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article lays out the challenges, highlights the impending issues and suggests a framework for moving forward. (Source: Health Services Management)
Source: Health Services Management - July 23, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Tsasis, P. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Improving patient safety incident reporting systems by focusing upon feedback - lessons from English and Welsh trustsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We present the key findings of the studies conducted in the National Health Services (NHS) trusts in England and Wales in 2006. These were a survey completed by risk managers for 351 trusts in England and Wales, three case studies including interviews with staff concerning an example of good practice feedback and an audit of 90 trusts clinical risk staff newsletters. We draw on an Expert Workshop that included 71 experts from the NHS, from regulatory bodies in health care, Royal Colleges, Health and Safety Executive and safety agencies in health care and high-risk industries (commercial aviation, rail and maritime industri...
Source: Health Services Management - July 23, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Wallace, L. M, Spurgeon, P., Benn, J., Koutantji, M., Vincent, C. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

The individual and organizational commitments needed for a successful diabetes care community of practiceEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study aims to discover what these commitments are. From the research data, key individual and organizational commitments are identified. The individual commitments needed are (in rank order of significance): a personal commitment to the aim of the CoP; a commitment to knowledge-sharing with others; a commitment to knowledge-seeking from others; effective management of personal relationships with others in the CoP; and understanding of the roles of other members. At the organizational level, the commitments needed are a good fit between the purposes of the CoP and the aims of the organizations employing the CoP members...
Source: Health Services Management - July 23, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Gibson, J., Meacheam, D. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Performance assessment in the maternity pathway in Tuscany regionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The paper describes the performance measurement system of the maternity pathway used in Tuscany by health care professionals, general managers and regional policy-makers. This system uses 19 indicators grouped in six dimensions: population's state of health; compliance with regional guidelines; efficiency and financial performance; clinical and health assessment; patient satisfaction; and employees' satisfaction. The results are represented on a spider diagram that summarizes the results on the different dimensions. The Tuscan performance measurement system of the maternity pathway has been used to identify best practice w...
Source: Health Services Management - July 23, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Nuti, S., Bonini, A., Murante, A. M., Vainieri, M. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Complex leadership competency in health care: towards framing a theory of practiceEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Many analysts characterize the health-care industry and health-care systems as complex adaptive organizations. New hybrid organizational forms are emerging that exhibit diverse relational-structural alliances between physicians, hospitals and/or insurers, over which administrators have limited control and restricted ability to predict or direct. Meeting the challenges in leading and managing health-care systems as complex adaptive organizations calls for additional competency in what theorists determine as ‘complex leadership’. This research study presents findings on complex leadership principles that augment ...
Source: Health Services Management - July 23, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Ford, R. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Innovations in coaching and mentoring: implications for nurse leadership developmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This longitudinal study sought to examine ways in which coaching and mentoring relationships impact on the professional development of nurses in terms of career and leadership behaviours, and evaluating the differences and similarities between those coaching and mentoring relationships. According to the UK government, leadership in nursing is essential to the improvement of service delivery, and the development and training of all nurses is vital in achieving effective change. A coaching and mentoring programme was used to explore the comparative advantages of these two approaches for the leadership development of nurses i...
Source: Health Services Management - April 28, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Fielden, S. L, Davidson, M. J, Sutherland, V. J Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

A conceptual framework for selecting the most appropriate variables for measuring hospital efficiency with a focus on Iranian public hospitalsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in the measurement of hospital efficiency in developing countries and in Iran. While the choice of measurement methods in hospital efficiency assessment has been widely argued in the literature, few authors have offered a framework to specify variables that reflect different hospital functions, the quality of the process of care and the effectiveness of hospital services. However, without the knowledge of hospital objectives and all relevant functions, efficiency studies run the risk of making biased comparisons, particularly against hospitals that provide hi...
Source: Health Services Management - April 28, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Afzali, H. H. A., Moss, J. R, Mahmood, M. A. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Systems thinking, complexity and managerial decision-making: an analytical reviewEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
One feature that characterizes the organization and delivery of health care is its inherent complexity. All too often, with so much information and so many activities involved, it is difficult for decision-makers to determine in an objective fashion an appropriate course of action. It would appear that a holistic rather than a reductionist approach would be advantageous. The aim of this paper is to review how formal systems thinking can aid decision-making in complex situations. Consideration is given as to how the use of a number of systems modelling methodologies can help in gaining an understanding of a complex decision...
Source: Health Services Management - April 28, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Cramp, D G, Carson, E R Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

The influence of facility ownership structure on individual responding to stress: a multilevel modelEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Few studies have investigated the effect of health-care facility ownership on the relationship between patient stressors and coping strategies. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether haemodialysis (HD) patient stressors and coping strategies differ by type of health-care facility ownership, and whether such ownership has a cross-level moderating effect between stressors and coping strategies. We used the Haemodialysis Stressor Scale and the Jalowiec Coping Scale; primary data were collected by interviewing 2642 HD patients 15 years or older on dialysis for at least three months from 27 HD centres. One-way ana...
Source: Health Services Management - April 28, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Yeh, S.-C. J., Huang, C.-H., Chou, H.-C., Wan, T. T H Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Benchmarking nursing home performance at the state levelEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper reports the results of a state-level comparison of the performance of nursing homes. The results were obtained by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) to data (obtained from OSCAR, the online survey, certification and reporting database [2004]) for all the skilled nursing facilities in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. DEA produces an efficiency score for each state that can serve as a single comprehensive measure of its overall performance. However, two DEA models were used in the analysis reported here so that each state could be given two efficiency scores, one for each of the two aspect...
Source: Health Services Management - April 28, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Lenard, M. L, Shimshak, D. G Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Do hospitals practice cream skimming?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We present a new methodology to measure cream skimming by hospitals. Our approach also provides a measure of a hospital's gain in productive efficiency by caring for patients with lower illness severity. Using a panel of Washington state hospitals, we find evidence that hospitals do practice cream skimming. However, we find little evidence to suggest that cream skimming varies by hospital size, profit status or time. (Source: Health Services Management)
Source: Health Services Management - January 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Friesner, D. L, Rosenman, R. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Using the balanced scorecard in the development of community partnershipsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The benefits of community partnerships have been well established in the health service literature. However, measuring these benefits and associated outcomes is relatively new. This paper presents an innovative initiative in the application of a balanced scorecard framework for measuring and monitoring partnership activity at the community level, while adopting principles of evidence-based practice to the partnership process. In addition, it serves as an excellent example of how organizations can apply scorecard methodology to move away from relationship-based partnerships and into new collaborations of which they can sele...
Source: Health Services Management - January 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Tsasis, P., Owen, S. M Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Travel-related costs of population dispersion in the provision of domiciliary care to the elderly: a case study in English Local AuthoritiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The aim of this research has been to make a contribution to deliberations concerning the relative costs of provision of domiciliary services for the elderly in local authorities in England and the implications for funding. The main services considered have been day-centre services and home-care services, and the particular cost areas investigated have been travel-related costs as associated with distances travelled by day-centre vehicles and care workers and with worker travelling hours. These costs are influenced by the population settlement and dispersion characteristics of the areas served and funding mechanisms are nee...
Source: Health Services Management - January 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Hindle, T., Hindle, G., Spollen, M. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

The development of an ongoing monitoring and evaluation system in a NORC service organizationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objective of this study was to describe the development, utilization and utility of an ongoing evaluation of a system of coordinated services to persons living in two naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs). The evaluation system includes service provision, service utilization and client satisfaction. It identifies trends in provided services and determines how services are utilized. A continuous monitoring system for reporting and quality improvement was developed with the four service agencies associated with the service provision system. The monthly data from each agency are compiled and distributed in th...
Source: Health Services Management - January 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Cohen-Mansfield, J., Frank, J. K Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

What do we know? Limitations of the two methods most commonly used to estimate the length of the prospective waitEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Health service researchers, policy analysts and other commentators have overlooked the limitations of existing approaches to the estimation of waiting times. If urgent cases are given priority, there are no instances when census-based data can supply accurate estimates of the length of the prospective wait. But there are three occasions when event-based data supply accurate estimates of the prospective wait of those who chose to enrol and we can predict the direction of error when the relevant conditions are violated if we know whether the list was open or closed, and whether it grew in size or shrank. Without this additio...
Source: Health Services Management - January 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Armstrong, P. W Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Operating environment and USA nursing homes' participation in the subacute care market: a longitudinal analysisEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We examined the impact of environmental factors on USA nursing homes' participation in the subacute care market. Findings suggest that the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 did not have a significant impact in the participation of nursing homes in the subacute care market from 1998 to 2000. However, there was a declining trend in the participation of nursing homes in the subacute care market after the implementation of Medicare prospective payment system (PPS). Furthermore, nursing homes with a higher proportion of Medicare residents were more likely to exit the subacute care market after PPS. Results also suggest that nursing h...
Source: Health Services Management - January 30, 2009 Category: Health Management Authors: Weech-Maldonado, R., Qaseem, A., Mkanta, W. Tags: Papers Source Type: journals

Standardized care processes to improve quality and safety of patient care in a large academic practice: the Plummer Project of the Department of Medicine, Mayo ClinicEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
There are opportunities to improve quality and safety of care provided to adult patients. The Plummer Project of the Department of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA) is an initiative to redesign outpatient practice. We used multidisciplinary teams to standardize the tasks essential to improve patient care. With the initiative to standardize the rooming process, patient care and safety improved with greater accuracy of the medication list. The standardization also improved physician efficiency because trained clinical assistants helped address the needs of the patient. Physicians were satisfied by the new proc...
Source: Health Services Management - October 27, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Wood, D. L, Brennan, M. D, Chaudhry, R., Chihak, A. A, Feyereisn, W. L, Woychick, N. L, Hagen, P. T, Curtright, J. W, Naessens, J. M, Spurrier, B. R, LaRusso, N. F Tags: Paper Source Type: journals

Influences on the career commitment of health-care managersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The health-care field is undergoing rapid and significant transformation. This transformation has led to the breakdown of traditional career paths for managers in the patient care segment of the industry. To our knowledge, there has not been a systematic examination of how these changes have impacted on the career commitment of managers in this segment of the industry. Building on previous research, we examine the effects of employment-related conditions and career experiences on the career commitment of these managers while controlling for the influence of individual characteristics. Specifically we assess the relationshi...
Source: Health Services Management - October 27, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Myrtle, R. C, Chen, D.-R., Liu, C., Fahey, D. Tags: Paper Source Type: journals

Lights and shades in the managerialization of the Italian National Health ServiceEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
After fifteen years from the first of a series of reforms that introduced managerial paradigms and techniques into the Italian National Health System (INHS), it is possible to provide a critical assessment of the outcomes of such changes. The aim of this paper is to assess how these reforms have changed the INHS, to what extent they concurred to improve the system, where they failed and which issues are still in agenda. To do so we run through the recent history of the INHS and propose an interpretative framework to understand the grounds for its light and shade results. The basis for the analysis is triple. The study draw...
Source: Health Services Management - October 27, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Lega, F. Tags: Paper Source Type: journals

The relationship of health-care managers' spirituality to their self-perceived leadership practicesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This exploratory survey examines the relationship between selected dimensions of spirituality and self-perceived effective leadership practices of health-care managers. Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Practices Inventory and Beazley's Spiritual Assessment Scale were administered to a sample of health-care managers. Significant statistical relationships were found between and among the dimensions of both subscales. Analysis of variance revealed a statistically significant difference in three effective leadership practices by ‘more spiritual than non-spiritual’ managers. The confirmatory factor analysis of our the...
Source: Health Services Management - October 27, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Strack, J. G., Fottler, M. D, Kilpatrick, A. O. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Management of complex chronic disease: facing the challenges in the Canadian health-care systemEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper discusses the challenges that those living with complex chronic disease present to the Canadian health-care system. The literature suggests home care and the management of complex chronic disease can together ease many of the present and future pressures facing the health-care system in dealing with this new health-care phenomenon. A review of current literature and dialogue with key informants reveals that the current level of investment and the present policy environment are not sustainable to support the health-care system. In this paper, changes to policy and resource allocation to the home care sector are s...
Source: Health Services Management - October 27, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Tsasis, P., Bains, J. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

A study of the relationship between job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention among hospital employeesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The purpose of this descriptive, co-relational and cross-sectional study was to gain a better understanding of the relationships between job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees, and their impact on turnover intention at Isfahan Hospitals, Isfahan, Iran, in 2005. Data were collected by the distribution of two questionnaires among 629 employees of these hospitals through a stratified random sampling method. The results of the paper indicate that hospital employees are moderately satisfied with their jobs and committed to their organization. Employees' job satisfaction and organizational commitment were cl...
Source: Health Services Management - October 27, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Mosadeghrad, A. M., Ferlie, E., Rosenberg, D. Tags: Paper Source Type: journals

Measuring primary care services performance: issues and opportunities from a home care pilot experience in the Tuscan health systemEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In recent years in Italy, as in other European countries, profound changes have been introduced in health care both at central and regional levels. Most of them were oriented towards a shift from ‘hospital-centred’ health care to health care based more on primary care services. This transition pursues two objectives: giving more effective responses to citizens' needs and reducing public health expenditure. Changes that involve organizational structure must also be carried out with the introduction of measurement tools that can help in planning and can control the changes. The paper provides the results obtained...
Source: Health Services Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Cinquini, L., Vainieri, M. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Organizational change through Lean ThinkingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In production and manufacturing plants, Lean Thinking has been used to improve processes by eliminating waste and thus enhancing efficiency. In health care, Lean Thinking has emerged as a comprehensive approach towards improving processes embedded in the diagnostic, treatment and care activities of health-care organizations with cost containment results. This paper provides a case study example where Lean Thinking is not only used to improve efficiency and cost containment, but also as an approach to effective organizational change. (Source: Health Services Management)
Source: Health Services Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Tsasis, P., Bruce-Barrett, C. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Evidence-based medicine as viewed by key decision-makers of health plans in southern BrazilEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study was designed to verify the current status of EBM in health plans as viewed by their key administrative decision-makers in southern Brazil. We present and discuss participants' agreement to predefined statements about: their level of knowledge on EBM, practitioners' and consumers' behaviour regarding EBM, potential effects for health-care plans by implementing EBM, and attitudes and interest of health-care plans toward evidence-based guidelines. We conclude that there is a need to establish educational efforts oriented to health-care plan managers regarding EBM, considering its good acceptance by managers and an ...
Source: Health Services Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Tiburi, M. F Tags: Article Source Type: journals

A qualitative exploration of the production of Hospital Episode Statistics in a Guernsey hospital: implications for regional comparisons of UK health dataEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study is a qualitative examination of the production of HES in a small hospital in Guernsey, which is not part of the NHS. Interviews were conducted with key participants in the production of HES to determine how the data were created, and the strengths and weaknesses of this system. We found that face-to-face communication between administrative and clinical staff was felt to contribute to the accuracy of the HES codes, and that a lack of detail in the case-notes was felt to be more problematic than the accuracy of the coders themselves. These findings have implications for the comparison of HES between NHS Trusts, s...
Source: Health Services Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Head, R. F, Byrom, A., Ellison, G. T H Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Organizational determinants of boundary spanning activity in outpatient substance abuse treatment programmesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion Directors of treatment organizations may improve treatment practices and political leverage by directly, but selectively, interacting with key external stakeholders. (Source: Health Services Management)
Source: Health Services Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Alexander, J. A, Wells, R., Jiang, L., Pollack, H. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Contract management in USA hospitals: service duplication and access within local marketsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper examines the extent to which hospitals that are under external contract management engage in service duplication, as well as the degree to which the various services they offer contribute to or detract from community access. The study incorporates all USA hospitals using data from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database, supplemented by county level measures obtained from the area resource file (ARF). Using data on the 3794 hospitals classified as acute care facilities in 2002, we performed a set of logistic regressions that analyzed whether a hospital offered each of 74 distinct services. For e...
Source: Health Services Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Carey, K., Dor, A. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Using SitReps performance data to monitor the delayed discharge processEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Situation Reports (SitReps) is an internal Department of Health performance data collecting system. Although intended primarily for internal use, the data are also used to answer parliamentary questions, brief ministers and to inform national performance indicators. This paper reviews the data collection system and data-set, and shows how it can be used to evaluate delays in hospital discharge under the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Act 2003. However, limitations in the data include the fact that the data have only recently been extended to National Health Service (NHS) non-acute settings and do not include NHS ...
Source: Health Services Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Godden, S., McCoy, D., Pollock, A. M Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Enabling innovation in health-care deliveryEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Achieving lasting performance improvement in health care is a demanding challenge. Service delivery processes are frequently fragmented with many symptoms of poor behaviour observable. Competing vested interests within the National Health Service (NHS) and experiences of muddled and muddied top–down government exhortation suggest the need for a balanced perspective in which the expectations of patients, staff, management and government can be considered, agreed and enabled. Our conclusion is that effective innovation is best achieved by establishing a ‘Train-Do–Train-Do’ cycle in which all ‘pl...
Source: Health Services Management - July 22, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Parnaby, J., Towill, D. R Tags: Paper Source Type: journals

Getting health reforms right: what lessons from an Italian case?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Over the past few years (2001–2007), the Italian National Health Service has been undergoing an important process of decentralization with a significant transfer of powers and responsibilities from the central government to the Regions. In this context, a particularly innovative example is represented by the case of Marche Region that extensively reformed its health-care system. For the analysis of this case, we used a theoretical framework that describes a health-care system in terms of components and goals. Policy-makers can act on the structural components of the system influencing the behaviour of individuals and...
Source: Health Services Management - May 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Villa, S., Alesani, D., Borgonovi, E. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Leadership competencies in the context of health servicesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion The study design was limited to participants working in single hospital; therefore, the conclusions made cannot yet be regarded categorically as generalizable. Leadership selection, development and education activities may not achieve their ultimate outcomes due to the subject identification problem associated with the competence approach. It might be necessary to reconsider the efficiency of human resource activities that rely solely on the competency approach. The conceptual basis of leadership competence in health services has been previously neglected. This research casts doubt on competency approaches to le...
Source: Health Services Management - May 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Jahrami, H., Marnoch, G., Gray, A. M. Tags: Paper Source Type: journals

The effects of the global budget system on cost containment and the quality of care: experience in TaiwanEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study is an attempt to determine whether the implementation of the Global Budget (GB) as a method of health reform has improved cost containment and quality of care in Taiwan. Panel-data analysis is used to investigate cost containment and quality of care in Taipei municipal hospitals before and after the introduction of the GB. The results suggest that there is a trade-off effect. The post-GB data indicate that cost containment comes at the expense of health-care quality. It may, therefore, be the case that policy-makers can more effectively balance cost containment and quality by refining the GB so that reimbursemen...
Source: Health Services Management - May 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Chang, L., Hung, J.-H. Tags: Paper Source Type: journals

Towards a model of Strategic Roster Planning and Control: an empirical study of nurse rostering practices in the UK National Health ServiceEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Despite the criticality of nurse rostering practices, there is a surprising lack of attention paid to this managerial activity both in practice and in the health-service management literature. This paper reports the results of an inductive, empirical study of rostering practices in the UK National Health Service with a view to developing a shared understanding of roster planning processes and of what constitutes rostering effectiveness. A survey of rostering practices in 50 wards, followed by five in-depth, longitudinal case studies, revealed the complexity of rostering activities, and identified the main design parameters...
Source: Health Services Management - May 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Silvestro, R., Silvestro, C. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Environmental scanning as a moderator of strategy-performance relationships: an empirical analysis of physical therapy facilitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
To date, strategic management research in health care is largely confined to the acute care sector of the industry. This research examines the linkages among environmental scanning, competitive strategy and performance in physical therapy facilities. Nontrivial differences between acute and subacute care firms suggest the role of environmental scanning may change in non-acute care settings. Consistent with previous research, these results indicate that the frequency of internal and external scanning is related to the strategic orientation of physical therapy facilities. Contrary to the expectations, broader scope of scanni...
Source: Health Services Management - May 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Davis, M. A, Miles, G., McDowell, W. C Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Using the balanced scorecard to mobilize human resources in organizational transformationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Traditionally, the balanced scorecard (BSC) has been an effective tool in linking measurement to strategy. However, what is least understood is how the BSC can be used to redefine organizational relationships, re-engineer fundamental processes and transform organizational culture, for superior performance in an organization with the same people, services and technology that previously delivered dismal performance. This paper highlights the process and uses York Central Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as an illustrative example. (Source: Health Services Management)
Source: Health Services Management - May 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Tsasis, P., Harber, B. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Factors affecting productive efficiency in primary care clinicsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study examines factors affecting the productive efficiency of primary care clinics. The empirical analysis uses a single-stage stochastic frontier regression model, in which factors affecting productive efficiency are specified as part of the inefficiency error component and estimated simultaneously with the production function. The study population includes primary care clinics in the US Military Health System from 1999 through 2003; the analytical data set is an unbalanced panel of 442 observations. The study's main results were that primary care clinics not associated with medical centres had significantly higher l...
Source: Health Services Management - February 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Schmacker, E. R, McKay, N. L Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Socioeconomic status and health-care utilization: a study of the effects of low income, unemployment and hours of work on the demand for health care in the European UnionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The purpose of this study was to shed light on the individual socioeconomic status and demographic determinants of the demand for health care in a cross-comparison study of nine European Union countries. It focuses on the effects of individual employment status on alternative indicators of demand for health care that constitutes a largely unexplored area. The evidence supports the existence of an employment status-demand for health-care relationship, although it varies with respect to the type of health care examined and the institutional and environmental settings of the countries utilized in the study. (Source: Health Services Management)
Source: Health Services Management - February 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Economou, A., Nikolaou, A., Theodossiou, I. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Exploring the lack of progress in improving patient safety in Australian hospitalsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion This study found limited evidence of sophisticated HRM practices among hospitals and hospital organizations in the State of Victoria, Australia. Despite the increasing evidence of a relationship among effective HRM and health-care outcomes, these hospitals reported limited performance management, training and development, and employee empowerment and decision-making. The authors suggest that it is unlikely that attempts to improve patient safety in this sector will be successful until the deficits in HRM are addressed. (Source: Health Services Management)
Source: Health Services Management - February 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Leggat, S., Bartram, T., Stanton, P. Tags: Article Source Type: journals

The influence of teamwork culture on physician and nurse resignation rates in hospitalsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In conclusion, these results suggest that developing and emphasizing a teamwork culture may facilitate greater retention of health-care employees, especially nurses. (Source: Health Services Management)
Source: Health Services Management - February 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Mohr, D. C, Burgess, J. F, Young, G. J Tags: Article Source Type: journals

Trend and variation of prescription drug cost in the veterans health-care systemEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Using descriptive statistics, this paper revealed that the prescription drug cost as a percentage of total health-care cost in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health-care system has outpaced the national trend. Given the fact that the national drug expenditure is the most fast-growing component in the health-care expenditure, the drug cost trend in VA commands further assessment for its financial and clinical impact. Furthermore, by applying simple log linear regression, we analysed the geographic variation in prescription drug use in the VA health-care system. We found a 30% deviation from the predicted drug cost at m...
Source: Health Services Management - February 1, 2008 Category: Health Management Authors: Gao, J., Campbell, J. Tags: Article Source Type: journals