title: Building the business case for clinical quality.
abstract: Following are key findings of VHA Inc.'s Transformation of the ICU collaborative: Instead of improving patient outcomes, focusing too much on reducing costs as a performance improvement strategy only lays the groundwork for increased quality problems and higher costs. Improving quality can improve the bottom line, as long as there is patient demand. As a type, hospitals are organizations that characteristically have high fixed costs. The more customers such organizations can serve with the same investment, the greater their profits.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spragens
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smithson
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000191:economics*; D005377:Financial Management, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013781:Texas