Increasing the effectiveness of resource deployment in healthcare organizations

This article suggests ways to enhance the effectiveness with which healthcare organizations deploy their resources. Specifically, the article: (1) reviews research findings from the academic literature that managers often continue, or even increase, resource allocation to unprofitable courses of action; (2) reports the results of a case study with hospital administrations that suggests that this tendency may exist in healthcare organizations; and (3) suggests ways for healthcare organizations to control the occurrence of such suboptimal actions, thereby increasing the effectiveness and timeliness of their resource deployment.