ABSTRACT
Medical staff organizations (MSOs) originated to reconcile hospitals' hierarchical management structure with the professional autonomy demanded by physicians. MSOs' primary purpose is to hold physicians collectively accountable for patient safety and clinical performance. However, in an era of declining hospital activity, most physicians no longer understand this. More often, they view the MSO as a political body whose purpose is to foster physicians' interests with the hospital's administration and board of trustees. In many hospitals, it is difficult to determine whether the MSO is the key to clinical improvement or the biggest barrier.
Subject(s)
Decision Making, Organizational , Medical Staff, Hospital/organization & administration , Hospital-Physician Relations , Humans , Professional Autonomy , Social Responsibility , United StatesABSTRACT
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.
