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Measuring the strategic readiness of intangible assets.

Measuring the value of intangible assets such as company culture, knowledge management systems, and employees' skills is the holy grail of accounting. Executives know that these intangibles, being hard to imitate, are powerful sources of sustainable competitive advantage. If managers could measure them, they could manage the company's competitive position more easily and accurately. In one sense, the challenge is impossible. Intangible assets are unlike financial and physical resources in that their value depends on how well they serve the organizations that own them. But while this prevents an independent valuation of intangible assets, it also points to an altogether different approach for assessing their worth. In this article, the creators of the Balanced Scorecard draw on its tools and framework--in particular, a tool called the strategy map--to present a step-by-step way to determine "strategic readiness," which refers to the alignment of an organization's human, information, and organization capital with its strategy. In the method the authors describe, the firm identifies the processes most critical to creating and delivering its value proposition and determines the human, information, and organization capital the processes require. Some managers shy away from measuring intangible assets because they seem so subjective. But by using the systematic approaches set out in this article, companies can now measure what they want, rather than wanting only what they can currently measure.

Accounting↗

Variation in routine psychiatric workload: the role of financing source, managed care participation, and mental health workforce competition.

This study was conducted to examine the association between psychiatrists' demographic characteristics, payment source, and managed care participation and psychiatrists' practice workload, and between the supply of other mental health providers in a psychiatrist's county of practice and psychiatrists' practice workload. Data from the 1996 American Psychiatric Association National Survey of Psychiatric Practice were merged with national countywide measures of mental health workforce and environmental data from the 1996 Area Resource File. In comparison to male psychiatrists, female psychiatrists treat fewer patients per week, provide less total hours of weekly patient care, and obtain fewer new monthly referrals. An increase in psychiatrists' managed care participation was associated with only minor increases in the number of patients per week, weekly time spent in clinical care, and number of new monthly referrals. The supply of other mental health providers was not associated with variation in practice workload. Once psychiatrists participate in managed care plans, an increase in their participation rate does not significantly expand clinical practice workload. The supply of other mental health providers was not significantly associated with variation in psychiatrists' workload, which suggests that substitution effects may not be evident with this aspect of psychiatric practice.

Adult↗

Judge Posner's RFP: antitrust law and managed care.

The emergence of a competitive market in health care portends an increasingly important role for antitrust law. Managed care is even more difficult than fee-for-service practice to analyze in the quantitative, economic terms required by modern principles of antitrust law. This paper examines a recent court decision authored by a prominent judge and antitrust scholar: Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin v. Marshfield Clinic. The purpose of the paper is not to describe the law as it is or as it should be, but to illustrate the assumptions and gaps in understanding that can occur when courts are asked to evaluate this complex and rapidly changing industry without the benefit of sound empirical research.

Antitrust Laws↗

Incorporating ethics into your comprehensive organizational plan.

Today's health care executives find their organizations facing internal and external environments that are behaving in chaotic and unpredictable ways. From inadequate staffing and an increase in clinical errors to outdated risk management procedures and increased competition for scare reimbursements, these health care managers find themselves making decisions without being fully informed of the ethical ramifications of these decisions. A 6-part Comprehensive Organizational Plan is presented that helps the health care decision maker better understand the key success factors for the organization. The Comprehensive Organizational Plan is an overall plan that is intended to protect and serve your organization. The 6 plans in the Comprehensive Organizational Plan cover the following areas: competition, facilities, finances, human resources, information management, and marketing. The comprehensive organizational plan includes an overlay of the ethical considerations for each part of the plan.

Decision Making, Organizational↗

Costs and financial consequences of the changing epidemiological profile in Mexico.

This article presents an analysis of health-care costs and financial consequences of changes in the epidemiological profile in Mexico. Four tracer diseases were selected to conduct this study: two non-communicable diseases (arterial hypertension and diabetes) and two communicable ones (diarrhea and pneumonia). Costs involved in disease case-management, both in economic and planning terms, predict the internal competition for resources to finance health services for each tracer disease. In addition, the change in the number of cases expected during the study period highlights the process of internal competition and adds an element of intrinsic competition in the management of ambulatory and hospitalized cases for each disease. Study results support the conclusion that if preventive programs remain unchanged, the increasing demands for curative health care may cause great financial and organizational challenges to the health care system of middle-income countries like Mexico.

Case Management↗

Comparisons show construction management's benefits.

Analysis of competitive bid, design-build, and construction management approaches shows that construction management offers owners substantial advantages regarding project cost and quality and substantial involvement and control throughout the process.

Administrative Personnel↗

The right mind-set for managing information technology.

Too many managers in the West are intimidated by the task of managing technology. They tiptoe around it, supposing that it needs special tools, special strategies, and a special mind-set. Well, it doesn't, the authors say. Technology should be managed-controlled, even--like any other competitive weapon in a manager's arsenal. The authors came to this conclusion in a surprising way. Having set out to compare Western and Japanese IT-management practices, they were startled to discover that Japanese companies rarely experience the IT problems so common in the United States and Europe. In fact, their senior executives didn't even recognize the problems that the authors described. When they dug deeper into 20 leading companies that the Japanese themselves consider exemplary IT users, they found that the Japanese see IT as just one competitive lever among many. Its purpose, very simply, is to help the organization achieve its operational goals. The authors recognize that their message is counterintuitive, to say the least. In visits to Japan, Western executives have found anything but a model to copy. But a closer look reveals that the prevailing wisdom is wrong. The authors found five principles of IT management in Japan that, they believe, are not only powerful but also universal. M. Bensaou and Michael Earl contrast these principles against the practices commonly found in Western companies. While acknowledging that Japan has its own weaknesses with technology, particularly in white-collar office settings, they nevertheless urge senior managers in the West to consider the solid foundation on which Japanese IT management rests.

Decision Making, Organizational↗

Cooperative ventures in a competitive environment: the influence of regulation on management decisions.

Two generalized game theory models are developed to explain observed management decisions between two large hospitals in Shelby County Tennessee within the regulatory context of competition for an advanced radiological technology pursued through the certificate-of-need process. The first model rationalizes each hospital's decision to submit competing certificate-of-need applications. The second model rationalizes the eventual joint venture agreement between the two hospitals and offers an explanation as to why the technology has yet to be acquired. The models are tested through interviews with the hospital administrators responsible for negotiating the joint venture agreement. The interviews confirm a preemptive motive behind each hospital's decision to compete and that the certificate-of-need requirement contributed to the eventual joint venture agreement.

Certificate of Need↗

Employee suggestion programs: the rewards of involvement.

Successful ESPs are the products of a great deal of effort by managers, administrators, teams, individuals, and reviewers, who are all striving to achieve the goals of increased profitability and enhanced employee involvement. A review of the literature indicates that there are several prescriptions that will increase the likelihood of a successful ESP (see the box). Today's American business prophets sound ceaseless calls to arms in the name of "world class performance," "global competitiveness," "total quality management," and a variety of other buzz terms. A burgeoning industry has evolved that promises, through speeches, teleconferences, seminars, and consulting contracts, to teach American organizations how to achieve excellence. In the face of a sputtering economy and unrelenting competitive pressure, today's managers must translate these laudatory ideals into hands-on reality without sacrificing the firm's profit margin to experimentation. If any idea can help an organization achieve improvement through a workable program, then that idea and that program deserve real consideration. An ESP represents an opportunity to tap the intelligence and resourcefulness of an organization's employees, and by doing so, reap significant cost savings. Those companies and managers that have an ESP program uniformly list economic advantages first when describing the benefits of their employee suggestion programs. But there is another deeper and longer term benefit inherent in an ESP. These programs allow employees to become involved in their organization; they drive deaccession to lower levels, they give employees more responsibility, they foster creative approaches to work, and they encourage creativity in pursuit of company goals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cost Savings↗

Impact of managed care on the treatment, costs, and outcomes of fee-for-service Medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of market-level managed care activity on the treatment, cost, and outcomes of care for Medicare fee-for-service acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Patients from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project (CCP), a sample of Medicare beneficiaries discharged from nonfederal acute-care hospitals with a primary discharge diagnosis of AMI from January 1994 to February 1996. STUDY DESIGN: We estimated models of patient treatment, costs, and outcomes using ordinary least squares and logistic regression. The independent variables of primary interest were market-area managed care penetration and competition. The models included controls for patient, hospital, and other market area characteristics. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: We merged the CCP data with Medicare claims and other data sources. The study sample included CCP patients aged 65 and older who were admitted during 1994 and 1995 with a confirmed AMI to a nonrural hospital. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Rates of revascularization and cardiac catheterization for Medicare fee-for-service patients with AMI are lower in high-HMO penetration markets than in low-penetration ones. Patients admitted in high-HMO-competition markets, in contrast, are more likely to receive cardiac catheterization for treatment of their AMI and had higher treatment costs than those admitted in low-competition markets. CONCLUSIONS: The level of managed care activity in the health care market affects the process of care for Medicare fee-for-service AMI patients. Spillovers from managed care activity to patients with other types of insurance are more likely when managed care organizations have greater market power.

Aged↗

[Sports and head injuries. Guidelines for the management and subsequent return to training and competition].

Head injuries in sports have received increased attention during the past decade. As explained in this article, the most recent guidelines for the management of head injuries in sports adopted by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) have been adapted for the Swedish sports society. The guidelines include a grading scale of head injuries in sports, a sideline evaluation to aid physicians, coaches and athletes in the acute situation, and a management strategy for safe return to play after a head injury. The use of these guidelines will facilitate appropriate acute and subacute management and thereby prevent repeated head injuries that could lead to potentially catastrophic outcome or long-term cognitive sequelae.

Athletic Injuries↗

Practice and career satisfaction among physiatrists. A national survey.

To evaluate physiatrist career satisfaction and current practice patterns, a 15-page survey was mailed randomly to 400 fellow members of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The 208 questionnaires (52%) returned revealed respondents' level of satisfaction with career choice, current practice, relationships with other physicians, their own residency training, and problems experienced that impede their practice. Factor analysis identified six areas of satisfaction: time demands, organizational support, current practice, current specialty, profession, and training. Problems with work consisted of four factors: external intrusions into practice, having to deal with non-rehabilitation problems, dealing with PM&R problems, and insufficient time for patients. Results showed that 75% of physiatrists were satisfied with their practice/profession. Satisfaction with current practice was greater with fewer external intrusions into practice, a larger percentage of income from traditional non-managed payment sources (including Medicaid), and less competition. Changes in health care, such as managed care, competition, and increased external regulations, appear to interfere with current practice. Variation in satisfaction was not significantly correlated with size of community, variation in rates of payment denials, workloads of greater than 50 hours per week, and a number of other factors that one might expect to affect satisfaction. Physiatrists had made many changes in their practice in response to the changes in the health care environment but had not cut care for indigent patients. Needs for greater residency training in outpatient clinics, physicians' offices, managed care, and long-term care settings were expressed. This is the first comprehensive published report on physiatric satisfaction in a changing health care environment. Further research in some of the areas will be required.

Adult↗

[Approaches to quality management in public health: current and future prospects].

All institutions in the health care sector are facing increasing competition. Therefore, new management concepts are considered. Current strategies are evaluated, and the efficiency of outputs is questioned. Quality management becomes a powerful instrument for achieving quality and ultimate aims. This development will also be the key to success for public health services.

Forecasting↗

Evidence-based management.

For the most part, managers looking to cure their organizational ills rely on obsolete knowledge they picked up in school, long-standing but never proven traditions, patterns gleaned from experience, methods they happen to be skilled in applying, and information from vendors. They could learn a thing or two from practitioners of evidence-based medicine, a movement that has taken the medical establishment by storm over the past decade. A growing number of physicians are eschewing the usual, flawed resources and are instead identifying, disseminating, and applying research that is soundly conducted and clinically relevant. It's time for managers to do the same. The challenge is, quite simply, to ground decisions in the latest and best knowledge of what actually works. In some ways, that's more difficult to do in business than in medicine. The evidence is weaker in business; almost anyone can (and many people do) claim to be a management expert; and a motley crew of sources--Shakespeare, Billy Graham,Jack Welch, Attila the Hunare used to generate management advice. Still, it makes sense that when managers act on better logic and strong evidence, their companies will beat the competition. Like medicine, management is learned through practice and experience. Yet managers (like doctors) can practice their craft more effectively if they relentlessly seek new knowledge and insight, from both inside and outside their companies, so they can keep updating their assumptions, skills, and knowledge.

Benchmarking↗