INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the
Special Issue on Quality
Management in Healthcare
Victor R. Prybutok, University of North Texas
Xiaoni Zhang, Northern Kentucky University
© 2010, ASQ
Quality management in healthcare is critical not only
because healthcare providers represent a large segment of the U.S. and world economy, but also because
healthcare quality directly impacts patient outcomes.
The healthcare environment is dynamic and complex,
and healthcare managers must develop the skills to
deal with ongoing changes in their industry. Executives
in healthcare are increasingly pressured to demonstrate
measurable patient outcomes while running cost-effective
operations, and to practice evidence-based medicine.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS Actuary Projections 2010), U.S. national healthrelated expenditures were estimated at $2.5 trillion in 2009,
up 5.7 percent from 2008. A leadership survey conducted by
the 21st annual Healthcare Information and Management
Systems Society (HIMSS) in 2010 reported that 72 percent
of the respondents expect an increase in the operating
budgets allotted by healthcare firms for information technology. HIMSS also found that 27 percent of the respondents
would like to focus their business operations on the efficient installation of a computerized provider order-entry
(CPOE) system (Health Management Technology 2010).
There are four manuscripts appearing in this special
issue on healthcare. The paper titled “Impact of Quality
Management on Hospital Performance: An Empirical
Examination” by Carter, Lonial, and Raju examines various quality management practices and their impact on
firm performance. The authors investigate the construct of
quality management and use structural equation modeling to evaluate the causal sequence. They also evaluate the
potential moderating effects of environmental uncertainty
and hospital size on the quality management-performance
relationship. Another paper titled “Medication Discharge
Planning Prior to Hospital Discharge” by Mutsh and
Herbert examines a quality improvement project that identifies: 1) medications that patients were taking at home that
were ordered in the hospital for home use after discharge;
2) patients’ adherence to prescribed medications at home;
and 3) patients’ understanding of medication names,
doses, schedules, and purposes at discharge. A third paper
titled “Core Values in Hospitals: A Comparative Study”
by Belohlav, Cook, Olson, and Drehmer reports on core
value adoption in American hospitals and its relationship
to hospital safety. They also examine differences in core
value usage between quality award winning hospitals and
nonaward hospitals. The fourth paper titled “The Effects of
Physicians’ Feelings of Empowerment and Service Quality
Perceptions on Hospital Recommendations” by Snipes,
Loughman, and Fleck investigates the role of physicians’
feelings of empowerment and service quality perceptions
on their satisfaction with a hospital. The authors employ
a survey of physicians and use evidence from that study to
conclude that physician satisfaction is improved by involving them in hospital decision making and establishing
clear expectations about hospital processes.
We’d like to thank the reviewers for their voluntary
efforts, which made this special issue a reality.
REFERENCES
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 2010.
National Health Expenditures for 2009-2019: CMS Actuary
Projections (February 4). Available at: http://www.piperreport.com/
archives/2010/02/national_health_expenditures_for_2009-2019_
cms_actuary_projections.html.
Fast Stats. 2010. Healthcare purchasing news 34, issue 3 (March):6.
Health Management Technology. 2010. Healthcare IT spending
expected to increase. Health Management Technology 31 issue 4:6-8.
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