Cost cutting for hospitals: a heuristic approach

This article has suggested a model that can provide some consistency and order as hospital managers attempt to find reliable yet palatable means of cutting their institutions' costs. Like any model, it is only as sensitive as the manner in which it is applied; it is a guide rather than a substitute for clear thinking by management. Used in context, however, the model encourages clear thinking when hospital managers might otherwise be tempted to dispose of facts that do not conform to their own theories or, alternatively, find isolated budget solutions that are simple and neat but suboptimal. In the final analysis, thinking clearly is the ultimate model when the order comes to cut costs.