Study finds top-ranked hospitals typically run by physicians
indings published in Social Science and Medicine report that the top-performing hospitals are typically led by physicians rather than non-physician managers.
The conclusions run counter to modern trends in the western world that place generally trained managers — rather than those with medical degrees — at the helm of hospitals.
“Over the last few decades, there has been a growing tendency for hospital boards to appoint managers as CEOs,” report author Amanda H. Goodall, PhD, explained in a release. “These findings raise some warning signs over that trend … according to the latest data, outstanding hospitals tend to be those run by somebody with a medical degree. I was surprised by the strength of the pattern.”
Ranking hospitals
Goodall’s study involved collecting data on the top 100 U.S. hospitals in 2009 as identified by the US News and World Report’s “Best Hospitals” ranking across several categories. The ranking originally listed 50 hospitals in each category, so the other 50 in each category were put together through analysis of US News and World Report’s grading system as applied to the remaining hospitals.
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