Productivity management in the hospital admissions department.

Newspapers, magazines, and media continue to describe the severe financial stress hospitals face. Hospitals are not receiving increases in revenue to offset the increasing costs of operation. The preferred way for most hospitals to survive in the future is to be able to provide the same, if not better, quality service at a reduced cost. The manager who can operate his or her business at an ever-reducing cost will continue to be in demand. If the hospital is to remain competitive, the increases in salary expense and the decreases in admissions have to be offset somehow. The only logical thing available is to improve the productivity of the current resources in the hospital. It is unfair for a department administrator to expect a reduction in resource consumption, without providing the manager with some means of measuring the effectiveness of what is happening in the department. The system described here would give the manager the means of such measurement.