title: Impact of transaction costs on healthcare outcomes.
abstract: This article reviews transaction cost economics to frame a discussion of how inefficiencies in healthcare delivery processes affect clinical outcomes and differentiate between inefficiencies that are tractable from those that are transitional or intractable. Recognizing and quantifying these effects improves the ability of organizations to calculate returns on investment in quality improvement, research and development and related value enhancing, but it is subject to high-risk undertakings.
authors.affiliation: Schools of Medicine and Nursing, Center for Clinical Improvement (CCI) and Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERT), Vanderbilt University, S 1122 Medical Center North, 1161 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37211 2668, USA. renee.stiles@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Renée A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Stiles
authors.forename: Stephanie A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: So