Hospital Quality: Ingredients for Success— a Case Study of El Camino Hospital (original) (raw)

As part of their study on quality improvement initiatives in U.S. hospitals, researchers at the Economic and Social Research Institute and The Severyn Group conducted indepth site visits at four top-performing hospitals from around the country to identify the factors that drive and challenge these institutions in their realization of quality goals. Mission Hospitals, a large health system located in Asheville, N.C., was one of the institutions selected for the study. Mission receives most of its revenues from government payers, with less than 20 percent of all revenues coming from managed care organizations. Key factors in Mission's success include the integration of physicians into the leadership structure-with physicians leading the quality improvement process and being held accountable for effecting change-and the reliance on consultants who have a blend of clinical and analytical skills.