According to author Michael Rindler, "Every hospital has the ability to reduce its costs by at least 5 percent annually without harming clinical quality or customer service." In Strategic Cost Reduction: Leading Your Hospital to Success, he reveals a proven, step-by-step leadership plan for managing costs at all types of hospitals in any location-from small rural hospitals to large urban academic medical centers. With a focus on leadership approaches rather than financial techniques, this book explains how to alleviate the anxiety of cost reduction efforts and engage all managers, physicians, and employees in creating a financially healthy organization. You will learn practical strategies for building a cost-reduction culture, uncovering cost-saving opportunities, promoting accountability at all levels, and monitoring results.

Translating the realities of healthcare reform and healthcare costs into competitive hospital practice is the goal of this accessible, jargon-free guide. Taking its cue from Michael Porter’s highly-regarded business strategies, it offers a sound framework for hospitals looking to develop efficient, patient-centered service delivery, identifying keys to clinical, administrative, and marketing success. The book organizes business and clinical priorities where they intersect so that physicians throughout healthcare systems can understand their role in building and sustaining innovation, and leverage their strengths and system resources toward meeting patient needs. In addition, chapters review eight core strategic tools, describe possibilities for their implementation, and provide in-depth findings on Porter’s methods as used in a diverse group of hospitals across Lebanon. Included in the coverage: · Porter’s strategies in health care: cost leadership versus differentiation strategy · Sources of competitive advantage · How to prepare an organization for innovation · Strategic framework in a hospital setting · Application of Porter’s strategies in Lebanese hospitals · Correlation between type of strategy and performance A well-designed blueprint for enhancing patient satisfaction and system cost-effectiveness, Strategic Thinking in a Hospital Setting is aimed at both frontline physicians in practice and those assuming administrative positions in healthcare facilities and in hospital settings in particular.

A practical guide to the principles and methods of cost analysis as a managerial tool for improving the efficiency of hospitals. Addressed to managers and administrators, the manual aims to equip its readers with the knowledge and skills needed to calculate the costs of different activities or departments, analyse their significance, and use this information to manage resources wisely. Throughout, recommendations and advice are specific to the different purposes of cost analysis and the different types of decisions commonly facing managers. The manual, which is intended for use as a training tool, was finalized following extensive field testing in workshops in Bangladesh, Egypt, and Zimbabwe. Methods of cost-finding and cost analysis are thoroughly explained and illustrated with practical examples and model step-by-step procedures for performing calculations. Since hospital accounting systems in developing countries may have gaps or inaccuracies, the manual gives particular attention to reliable methods for estimating costs when existing data are problematic. The manual opens with an explanation of the many advantages of using cost-finding and cost analysis as managerial tools. These include the provision of data needed for informed decisions on operations and infrastructure investment, the planning of future budgets, the establishment of charges for patient services, and the development of mechanisms for ensuring that costs do not exceed available revenues and subsidies. Against this background, the core of the manual is presented in three chapters. The first and most extensive chapter explains how to allocate costs to cost centres and how to compute unit costs. Information and examples are presented according to seven steps. Each is discussed in terms of the types of data needed, how component cost items should be treated, and how costs can be computed in particular situations or cases. Practical examples are used to illustrate the types of questions addressed in cost analysis and the value of this information in guiding decisions. Chapter two explains how cost data can be used to improve the management of an individual hospital. Information is intended to guide decisions at both the cost centre, or department, level and the hospital level. Managerial tasks covered include budgeting, profitability, efficiency improvements, contracting outside services or producing in-house, and assessing fiscal solvency. Chapter three considers the use of cost data in managing national and regional hospital systems. Specific applications include improvements in the referral system, the appropriate use of different providers of services, and the comparison of similar hospitals to identify inefficiencies or sources of waste. The manual concludes with a series of practical exercises, followed by explanations of their answers.

Managing Health Care Business Strategy is the definitive textbook on strategic planning and management for healthcare organizations. It offers all the basic information on strategic planning and management within the unique context of organizations concerned with the delivery and financing of health care. It does this by noting the singular strategic environment in health care, explaining the special procedures and options available to health care organizations, and providing real-life examples in the form of case studies. It includes not only a description of the basic multi-step process of creating and then managing a strategic plan, but also a detailed look at the role played by the key business functions (finance, marketing, human resources, information technology, and law) as well as specific strategic options (merger/acquisition, reorganization, joint venture) and some of the popular tools for analyzing strategic situations (balanced scorecard, Six Sigma, SWOT).

In this book, a world-class editorial advisory board and an independent team of contributors draw on their experience in operations, leadership, and Lean managerial decision making to share helpful insights on the valuation of hospitals in today‘s changing reimbursement and regulatory environments.Using language that is easy to understand, Financia