The relationship between personal strengths of chief executive officers and their control of labor in non-profit hospitals.

摘要

The hospital sector reflects a microcosm of the healthcare crisis in the United States; as hospital care costs increase, so does the financial failure rate of hospitals. This dissertation examines the relationship between hospital CEO personal strengths and their success, which for this study was defined as controlling the use of labor.;This study covered 2 hospital systems with 14 hospital CEOs participating and providing access to their Solucient database. This study used Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 as a survey instrument with those CEOs who participated in the study. The results of the 177 paired question survey gave each CEO his or her top 5 strengths.;Using the Solucient database, the researcher used full-time equivalents per adjusted patient discharge for the fiscal year 2008. Each hospital was benchmarked against similar hospitals based on size and case---adjusted to determine if they are in the top quartile (Quartile 1 & 2) using the least amount of labor or bottom quartile (Quartiles 3 & 4) using the most amount of labor for this measurement. Subjects' personnel strengths are compared to their ranking in use of labor.;Based on the statistical analyses, CEOs who included "Achiever" as one of their top 5 themes showed significantly higher quartile scores on the measure FTEs per Adjusted Patient Discharge (Lowest use of labor). That is, differences between CEOs' strengths in the upper and lower quartiles were found. Of the 8 CEOs in the top 2 quartiles, 6 express strengths of learner (statistically significant at 0.03) and achiever (statistically significant at 0.01). Thus, the 2 strengths of learner and achiever could identify a CEO with the ability to control hospital labor.;By determining this relationship between CEO personal strengths and hospitals' use of labor, the research identified 2 personal strengths can affect labor control in the hospitals. Hospital boards and systems could use the information to recruit the best administrators. Controlling labor usage is not always a priority for hospitals; sometimes CEO's are retained to increase market share or recruit physicians. However, the focus in this project was limited to the use of labor.