quality management in healthcare
Bruce Reid, Blake Memorial Hospital’s new CEO, rubbed his eyes and looked again at the 1992 budget worksheet. The more he played with the figures, the more pessimistic he became. Blake Memorial’s financial health was not good; it suffered from rising costs, static revenue, and declining quality of care. When the board hired Reid six months ago, the mandate had been clear: improve the quality of care and set the financial house in order.
Reid had less than a week to finalize his $70 million budget for approval by the hospital’s board. As he considered his choices, one issue, the future of six off-site clinics, commanded special attention. Reid’s predecessor had set up the clinics five years earlier to provide primary health care to residents of Marksville’s poorer neighborhoods; they were generally considered a model of community-based care. But while providing a valuable service for the city’s poor, the clinics also diverted funds away from Blake Memorial’s in-house services, many of which were underfunded.
As he worked on the budget, Reid’s thoughts drifted back to his first visit to the Lorris housing project in early March, just two weeks into his tenure as CEO.
The clinic was not much to look at. A small graffiti-covered sign in the courtyard pointed the way to the basement entrance of an aging six-story apartment building. Reid pulled open the heavy metal door and entered the small waiting room. Two of the seven chairs were occupied. In one, a pregnant teenage girl listened to a Walkman and tapped her foot. In the other, a man in his mid-thirties sat with his eyes closed, resting his head against the wall.
Reid had come alone and unannounced. He wanted to see the clinic without the fanfare of an official visit and to meet Dr. Renée Dawson, who had been the clinic’s family practitioner since 1986.
The meeting had to be brief, Dawson apologized, because the nurse had not yet arrived and she had patients to see. As they marched down to her office,
Reid had less than a week to finalize his $70 million budget for approval by the hospital’s board. As he considered his choices, one issue, the future of six off-site clinics, commanded special attention. Reid’s predecessor had set up the clinics five years earlier to provide primary health care to residents of Marksville’s poorer neighborhoods; they were generally considered a model of community-based care. But while providing a valuable service for the city’s poor, the clinics also diverted funds away from Blake Memorial’s in-house services, many of which were underfunded.
As he worked on the budget, Reid’s thoughts drifted back to his first visit to the Lorris housing project in early March, just two weeks into his tenure as CEO.
The clinic was not much to look at. A small graffiti-covered sign in the courtyard pointed the way to the basement entrance of an aging six-story apartment building. Reid pulled open the heavy metal door and entered the small waiting room. Two of the seven chairs were occupied. In one, a pregnant teenage girl listened to a Walkman and tapped her foot. In the other, a man in his mid-thirties sat with his eyes closed, resting his head against the wall.
Reid had come alone and unannounced. He wanted to see the clinic without the fanfare of an official visit and to meet Dr. Renée Dawson, who had been the clinic’s family practitioner since 1986.
The meeting had to be brief, Dawson apologized, because the nurse had not yet arrived and she had patients to see. As they marched down to her office,