PubMed · 2006 · 19 citations · 1 references
Health ProfessionsHealth Care ManagementHealth Services AdministrationHealthcare AdministrationHealthcare Quality ImprovementHospital AdministrationContinuous Quality ImprovementHealthcare Quality ManagementHospital Performance EvaluationPerformance ImprovementQuality Improvement StrategyQuality Of CareClinical Care QualityClinical Quality MeasuresClinical Quality MetricsHealthcare Service ImprovementHospital Quality Of CareHospital Service QualityPatient DemandPatient Outcomes Measurement
Following are key findings of VHA Inc.'s Transformation of the ICU collaborative: Instead of improving patient outcomes, focusing too much on reducing costs as a performance improvement strategy only lays the groundwork for increased quality problems and higher costs. Improving quality can improve the bottom line, as long as there is patient demand. As a type, hospitals are organizations that characteristically have high fixed costs. The more customers such organizations can serve with the same investment, the greater their profits.
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