Managing Health Services Organizations and Systems, Fifth Edition By Beaufort B. Longest, Jr., Ph.D., FACHE, and Kurt Darr, J.D., Sc.D., FACHE

Excerpted from Managing Health Services Organizations and Systems, Fifth Edition, by Beaufort B. Longest, Jr., Ph.D., FACHE, and Kurt Darr, J.D., Sc.D., FACHE

Copyright © 2008 by Health Professions Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Preface

Leading industry health services organizations (HSOs) and health systems (HSs) are setting the benchmarks and establishing the best practice standards for the 21st century. They are simultaneously satisfying their customers, achieving quality and safety goals, and meeting cost objectives. The benchmarks of excellence in health services delivery are being established in organizations and systems that have excellent managers, as well as talented clinicians and dedicated governing bodies.

Our purpose in this 5th edition, as in previous editions, is to present information and insight that can help set the benchmarks of excellence in the management of health services. The book will be useful to two groups. It will assist students as they prepare for health services management careers through programs of formal study. It also has broad use as a new source of knowledge of applied management theory that is part of ongoing programs of professional development for current health services executives. We hope that both groups will find the book to be an important reference in their personal libraries.

As in previous editions, the primary focus is managing HSOs and HSs. This edition, however, gives much more attention to managing the increasingly important system of public health organizations and services. Hospitals and long-term care organizations continue to be prominent HSOs and are treated as such in this edition. Ambulatory care organizations, home health agencies, and managed care organizations, among other HSOs, are also covered. Whether HSOs operate as independent entities or align themselves into a variety of HSs, all face dynamic external environments—a mosaic of external forces that includes new rules, regulations, and technologies; changing demographic patterns; increased competition; public scrutiny; heightened consumer expectations; greater demands for accountability; and more constraints on resources. The interface between HSOs and HSs and their external environments is given added attention in this edition.

As in previous editions, we seek to present management theory in a way that demonstrates its widespread applicability to all types of HSOs and HSs. This objective is accomplished by using a process orientation that focuses on how managers manage. We examine management functions, concepts, and principles as well as managerial roles, skills, and competencies within the context of HSOs and HSs and their external environments. For nascent managers, we introduce terminology and concepts that will provide a foundation for lifelong learning and professional development. Experienced managers will find reinforcement of existing skills and experience, provision and application of new theory, and the application of traditional theory and concepts in new ways.

Managing in the unique environment that is the health services requires attention to the managerial tools and techniques that are most useful in this environment. The thirteen chapters in this 5th edition of Managing in Health Services Organizations and Systems are an integrated whole that covers how management occurs in HSOs and HSs. The discussion questions and cases will stimulate thought and discussion of chapter content. It is our hope that the book will assist all who aspire to establish the new benchmarks of excellence in the extraordinarily complex and important process of delivering health services.