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Copyright of Al Bashaer Economic Journal is the property of Al Bashaer Economic Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

If one of the key reasons for an inquiry is to learn lessons and prevent similar events from reoccurring, recommendations must be implementable and implemented, but it is clear that lessons have not been learned and recommendations not implemented. This paper compares the 'implementability' of recommendations from the three inquiries of Ely, Bristol and Mid Staffordshire to stress the importance of learning lessons. It examines two broad issues of 'who?' and 'what?'. First, some 80 per cent of the Ely recommendations were aimed at the institution, while 72 per cent of the Bristol and Mid Staffordshire recommendations were aimed at the system. Moreover, about 7 per cent of Ely's forty‐four recommendations have a clearly identified agent, compared to 15 per cent at Bristol and 41 per cent at Mid Staffordshire. Second, the policy tool of 'sermons' accounts for some 89 per cent of Ely recommendations, compared to 66 per cent at Bristol and 63 per cent at Mid Staffordshire. However, the earlier sermons did not appear to prevent the events at Mid Staffordshire occurring. Pulling these issues together, it can be suggested that, given the large number of potentially responsible agencies, recommendations should be 'active' with a clearly identified agent and that a clear policy tool or mechanism should be identified rather than rely on a vague tendency to sermonise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospital/federations are a form of multiorganizational collaboration in which a management group coordinates and directs the activities of three or more organizations. This paper introduces a life-cycle model of federations that focuses on factors that influence the transition from one stage to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role and importance of innovation in all processes is recognized internationally as one of the main drives for development and sustainability in various areas of activity. In Portugal, innovation in the health sector was applied to hospital management, which in the first phase adopted business management practices and later a model of public-private partnership. In this article, using the method of literature review and data analysis, we intend to evaluate the better production in management with the creation of enterprise-hospitals and public-private partnerships and verify if there is any difference in the results of access and quality among the new models. As a result of the analysis, it can be noted that innovation has positively influenced both organizations, and they show increase in production. However, it was found that enterprise-hospitals have better access indicators and hospitals in public-private partnership show better quality results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study suggested a new security method which can be applied to healthcare environment aimed at those geographically living away from hospitals, including the elderly living alone, the handicapped, people living in islands and highlands, and chronic disease patients. In other words, it proposed a new authentication scheme of exchanging safely information between personal health device (PHD) to measure the bio-information of a chronic disease patient at home and data manager (DM) to collect the bio-information from the device. In terms of operations, the proposed scheme features the generation of a random number once by PHD and DM, respectively, two times of XOR operation, and one time of encoding and decoding operation. Therefore, given the low-power characteristic of PHD, it is very efficient. In addition, since a random number is used for encoding and decoding operation, the data to be transmitted is not only variable, but safe from illegal third parties' attacks, including eavesdropping, location-tracking, spoofing, and replay. In particular, the proposed scheme can be applied directly to ISO/IEEE 11073-20601 standard. Therefore, it is judged that the proposed authentication scheme is very useful in the point that it added the mutual authentication function to PHD and DM to implement safer and more efficient e-health environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore how hospital real estate can add value to the healthcare organization, which values are prioritized in practice, and why. Background: Dutch healthcare organizations are self-responsible for the costs and benefits of their accommodation. Meanwhile, a lively debate is going on about possible added values of corporate and public real estate in the fields of corporate real estate management and facility management. This article connects both worlds and compares insights from literature with experiences from practice. Methods: Added values extracted from literature have been discussed with 15 chief executive officers and project leaders of recently newly built hospitals in the Netherlands. Interviewees were asked (1) which values are included in the design and management of their hospital and why, (2) to prioritize most important values from a list of nine predefined values, and (3) to explain how the chosen real estate decisions are supposed to support organizational objectives. Results: Stimulating innovation, user satisfaction, and improving organizational culture are most highly valued, followed by improving productivity, reducing building costs, and creating building flexibility. Image, risk control, and financing possibilities got lower rankings. The findings have been used to develop a value-impact matrix that connects nine values to various stakeholders and possible interventions. Conclusion: The findings and the value-impact matrix can make different stakeholders aware of many possible added values of hospital real estate, potential synergy and conflicts between different values, and how to steer on value add in different phases of the life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the national adoption of a pricing system based on diagnosis-related groups (DRG) in Finland. It is stated that hospital charges are based on actual costs and contracts with municipalities in the country. It is mentioned that, the accounting system can also be seen more broadly as the producer of information and as the building of information based on the actor network approach.

Copyright of Schmollers Jahrbuch is the property of Duncker & Humblot GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The current Romanian medical system is going throw a complex process of reform based mainly in winning the citizens, professionalization the management and increasing the funding levels. The present study is an analysis of the satisfaction level felt by medical staff in emergency reception units in Bucharest hospitals and brings a novelty in the field of medical research, based on the problems approached and the emphasis placed in observation the quality and the performance of medical services. This study shows how satisfied is a medical personnel in the working environment and identify what are the main drawbacks that generate disaffection and inefficiency in public medical emergency services in Bucharest. The research methodology used is based on a target group consisting of medical personnel's in emergency reception units analyzed. The tools used for data collection were questionnaires and non-participatory observations were processed by computer program called SPSS. The results obtained from the medical staff examined shows dissatisfaction towards salary level, the level of endowment with modern equipment and informative materials available which capture the need to create a remuneration system based on performance criteria and competitiveness associated with a penalty system in parallel. The beneficiaries of this study are researchers in the medical field, hospitals surveyed, managers and representatives of research and development departments of analyzed hospitals taking into account their low activity in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to describe and analyse the process of transforming hospitals by changing their legal status. The paper analyses a sample of approximately 80 hospitals operating in the Czech Republic which have gone through the transformation process. Empirical research has been carried out by the evaluation of secondary economic data and internal materials of hospitals providing health care services in different regions of the country. Particular emphasis is put on the process of changing the legal status from public hospitals to private limited companies and the assessment of the causality of this process. It further describes the reasons for the transformation and its practical implications in hospital management using a legal business entity, focusing on the clarification of the administrative aspects of hospital management/ownership. This study is based on the comparison of the hospitals' activities provided by the hospital management, both during the pre-transitional and post-transitional phases. The research outcomes evaluate the effect of governance and management of new legal entities in selected areas within the field of healthcare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Modes of governance were compared in ten local mental health networks in diverse contexts (rural/urban and regionalized/non-regionalized) to clarify the governance processes that foster inter-organizational collaboration and the conditions that support them. Methods: Case studies of ten local mental health networks were developed using qualitative methods of document review, semi-structured interviews and focus groups that incorporated provincial policy, network and organizational levels of analysis. Results: Mental health networks adopted either a corporate structure, mutual adjustment or an alliance governance model. A corporate structure supported by regionalization offered the most direct means for local governance to attain inter-organizational collaboration. The likelihood that networks with an alliance model developed coordination processes depended on the presence of the following conditions: a moderate number of organizations, goal consensus and trust among the organizations, and network-level competencies. In the small and mid-sized urban networks where these conditions were met their alliance realized the inter-organizational collaboration sought. In the large urban and rural networks where these conditions were not met, externally brokered forms of network governance were required to support alliance based models. Discussion: In metropolitan and rural networks with such shared forms of network governance as an alliance or voluntary mutual adjustment, external mediation by a regional or provincial authority was an important lever to foster inter-organizational collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Along decades, health organizations have dedicated to improve the quality of care and to meet patients and family needs as well as personnel working in them. Business process management has become a basic instrument for innovative institutions whose vision is focusing in clinical management based on a value added proposition to patients. The development of this form of managing goes through identifying, understanding, stabilizing and controlling more effectively the areas having medical responsibilities in the entity. Cuban National Health System engages in valuable efforts to make medical services to satisfy patients and population in general. The basic of these endeavors is the search of techniques for improving and managing processes in such a way that those are aligned with organizational strategy. Thus, the objective of this work is to propose a procedure to improve and manage healthcare processes, supported by techniques and instruments being adapted from other entrepreneurial environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Increasing competition in the health care industry has caused many hospitals to use innovative management tools to improve performance and maintain competitive advantages. At Barberton Citizens Hospital, a balanced scorecard was implemented recently when senior management redefined the hospital's mission and corporate values. The results were impressive. Operational measures improved during the first year of the implementation, and they led to a significant increase in revenues and profit. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, the UK health system has experienced an unprecedented level of policy-driven reform. This regular column will examine the progress of key reforms in the UK and around the world and will discuss the implications for organisations seeking to do business in health. This first paper looks at the likely reform initiatives over the coming year in England. It describes the increased focus on productivity improvement and shift of care from acute to community settings, the consolidation of private hospital providers, and examines the implications for healthcare service providers with respect to the current moves to decentralise power in the NHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a field-based disguised case describing how an entrepreneur who develops a successful rehabilitation business now must operate within the confines of a bureaucratic hospital setting. The CEO of the hospital who had ordered him not to seek any new ventures given the hospital's cash flow problems was stymieing his entrepreneurial orientation. The case has a difficulty level appropriate for a junior level course in small business management and entrepreneurship. The case is designed to be taught in one class period (may vary from sixty minutes to one hundred minutes depending upon the course structure and the instructional approach employed) and is expected to require between three to six hours of outside preparation by students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary hospitals fall far short in applying both state-of-the art clinical knowledge and management practices of known effectiveness. Organization and management practices in hospitals are shaped by four factors: their conflicting missions, a distinctive and largely professional workforce, demanding external environments, and a complex day-to-day task environment. This article identifies two critical organizing challenges that hospitals face: organizational learning and implementing effective high involvement management practices. It discusses how findings from organizational research, including articles in this special issue, identify solutions to the problems underlying these challenges. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article it is argued that one approach to learn more on network success is by studying the norms network members use to control their own network. The results of this study in four health care networks indicate three norms to be central: the norm of network legitimacy, the norm of activating capacity, and the norm of network climate. By comparing the four networks it was explored if and why networks differ in the accomplishment of their own norms. Explanations for the reasonable success of networks can be found in the way the networks were initiated and the legitimacy of the networks. Moreover, only if networks are initiated by the network participants themselves does the network's age positively correlate with the network's activating capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational supervision by hospital consultants continues to be a central support for the learning in practice of junior doctors. Among medical educators, the consensus view is that the quality of clinically based teaching will be uplifted by the introduction of learner-centred, facilitative methods. However, a qualitative evaluation of the surgical education of senior house officers (SHOs) has produced evidence that surgeon educators (SEs) worked with varying teaching perspectives as they adapted their supervisory practice to particular service conditions. The teaching of surgical trainees was a pragmatic art, involving shifting judgements in which SEs integrated knowledge content and pedagogic skills with the trainee's needs in a given context. This ability to move flexibly, and sometimes rapidly, around a wide repertoire of teaching expertise will be essential if SEs are to assist junior doctors in making sense of surgical experiences in increasingly restrictive and unpredictable service conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: There exists a significant gap between the expected and delivered level of quality received in America's hospitals. As a result, clinical outcomes of critical services such as coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery have received unparalleled scrutiny. Medical information technology companies like Solucient and insurance carriers such as Blue Cross of California have identified and published a list of hospitals that demonstrate superior quality and patient outcomes for CABG procedures. These ‘benchmark’ programs serve as a reminder that closing the quality gap is possible. Unfortunately, none of these rankings (report cards) provide programs that fail to achieve benchmark status with detailed information on the processes or methods necessary to improve performance. Method: After identifying hospitals within the Fresenius Medical Care Extracorporeal Alliance (FMCEA) system that were judged as top performers (benchmark programs) by either Solucient (‘100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals’, Evanston, IL 60201) or Blue Cross of California (‘Centers of Expertise’, Newbury Park, CA 91320), 12 months of continuous collection of CPB-related quality indicator data were analyzed for compliance to the FMCEA evidence-based Quality Indicator Program (QIP). A comparison of compliance to the FMCEA CPB indicators was made between the benchmark FMCEA hospitals and the FMCEA peer group hospitals. Results: Seven CPB process indicators were compared: 1) lowest sustained mean arterial pressure, 2) lowest sustained cardiac index, 3) lowest sustained mixed venous oxygen saturation, 4) lowest sustained hematocrit, 5) lowest activated clotting time, 6) highest sustained arterial blood temperature and 7) average sodium bicarbonate administered. Analysis of hospitals in the FMCEA system designated by Blue Cross of California as 'Centers of Expertise' revealed statistically significantly greater compliance (p

Describes a healthcare organization and its successful efforts in developing employee participation in the patient-satisfaction process. Patient satisfaction as a major concern for any healthcare organization; Development of a patient satisfaction committee in creating a unified approach to customer service throughout a hospital's integrated delivery system; Initiative of a sustainable, permanent focus constantly refreshed through innovative approaches.