Study Shows Hospitals Run by Physicians in the US Outperform Those Run By Non Credentialed Managers by 25% Better Quality Care

The study encompasses 300 hospitals in the western US and is focused on performance in areas of cancer, heart surgery and a few other categories, but wait are we not trying to run physician owned hospitals out of business? This is not a cost study but rather focuses on patient care which we like as patients by all means and might signify a better doctor/patient relationship too.

There’s a lot of anxious individuals waiting to hear more on this study I can bet as if our practice of using non clinical CEOs, which is basically what we have today is not getting the performance desired, then we have been going about this in all wrong ways. The data being used for the study is from 2009, which is current enough and not ancient history with information relative to how hospitals function today. The initial percentages numbers are nothing to sneeze at either with 25% being the average with what the study has gathered so far in the area of quality of care. The information compiled includes both professional and personal backgrounds of both types of each leader. I would also think the AMA would be all over this study as well. BD

The research, to be published in the elite journal Social Science and Medicine, is the first of its kind. Its conclusions run counter to a modern trend across the western world to put generally trained managers -- not those with a medical degree -- at the helm of hospitals. This trend has been questioned, particularly by the Darzi Report, which was commissioned by the U.K. National Health Service, but until now there has been no clear evidence.

Amanda Goodall PhD, the author of the study, and a senior researcher at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn, Germany, constructed a detailed database on 300 of the most prominent hospitals in the United States. She then traced the professional background and personal history of each leader. The research focused particularly on hospital performance in the fields of cancer, digestive disorders and heart surgery.

The study shows that hospital quality scores are approximately 25% higher in physician-run hospitals than in the average hospital.

Barry Silbaugh M.D., the CEO of American College of Physician Executives, commented: "We are watching Dr Goodall's research carefully because it seems to finally provide a real evidence-base for physician leadership. This is something we have long supported."

Best U.S. hospitals are run by physicians, study finds