The economic equation

Any hospital's success is dependent on the medical staff, administration, and governing body's attention to quality, availability, and affordability of needed services. A cooperative working relationship helps address tough issues. Physicians have been reluctant to incorporate practice efficiency into guidelines or into performance appraisals; however, not doing so places the hospital at risk and thus jeopardizes a community asset. The cost of care, limited financial resources, and the threat to future generations' access to care may drive the process. If evaluation of economic performance is to be successful, its application and limitations must be understood and embraced by medical staffs and governing bodies to ensure that fair and realistic criteria are developed that promote and preserve quality medical care for hospital patients today and in the future.