Hospitials and Doctors - What Makes for a Great Hospital?

Most doctors must affiliate with a hospital to practice in any community. There are exceptions, of course. Some physicians, like dermatologists ophthalmologists, and other office-based practitioners , practice mostly out of their offices or do procedures at ambulatory care centers disconnected with hospitals.

But for most physicians, a hospital relationship is a must. What makes a hospital great? In a recent book, The Seven “Cs” of Hospital-Physician Relationships, Jim Hawkins, a former hospital CEO, and I explored this relationship from hospital CEOs’ points of view. But what about the physician’s viewpoint?

I’d like to see how you react to an article in Healthleaders Magazine, “What All Great Hospitals Do.” See Healthleadersmedia.com. Here’s what hospital executives said great hospitals do.

• Make Decisions Based on What is Right – In the example given, a 25 bed hospital in Northern Ohio added “seven or eight” physicians to keep patients in town. This decision was based on community research showing many doctors were leaving town to seek care.

• Innovate – Cites CEO of Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana, who says, “Innovation is the best way to solve the problem all of us have today.” Organized “Innovation Propulsion Leaders,” :who among other things, built a $40 million heart and vascular center.

• Set High Goals – Gives example of Scripts Health in San Diego, who develops metric-driven targets, and rebounds with $100 million in margins since 2000. Scripts is said to be great place to work and attracts scare health care workers.

• Have a Culture of Professionalism – Quotes a senior EVP, of Arlington-Based Texas Health Resources, a large faith-based delivery system, “We take care of our nurses and doctors, so they are free to take care of our patients, Everyone is a vital part of one team.”

• Share, Even When It Hurts - Tells of PeaceHealth, a six hospital system in Bellevue, Washington, which over the last 12 years developed a community health record. Peace shares its data with competitors. Says the senior VP,” We realized that in order to provide high quality, safe, and effective care across the continuum, up to and including the patient’s home – providers and patients had to have all the necessary information wherever care was delivered.”


• Have Balanced Leadership Chemistry – President and CEO of Irving-Tx Christus Health, says of his senior team, “They have to have clear technical knowledge of their primary care of responsibility, the ability to function as a total team when we are making strategic diction, and enough confidence to make a leadership decision in isolation.”

• Make Money – CFO of Oregon Health and Science Center says, “Understand that to continue to provide high-quality care, they need to make ongoing investments in new service, plant, and equipment.”

• Want to be Great Hospital –Christus executive says, “Excellence is not a luxury. It is a necessity, because every day people come through our doors and turn their most precious gift over to us: their lives.”

And here are a few more.

• Communicate with the public with one voice.

• Take pride in the physical plant.

• Don’t take themselves too seriously.

• Promote from within.

• Serve a decent cup of coffee.

Give us your thoughts what makes a great hospital.