Creating the New American Hospital

Meeting the challenges of operating in today's health care environment, argues V. Clayton Sherman, requires nothing less than a complete, revolutionary transformation in how hospitals are managed - the creation of the New American Hospital. In this book, he offers health care leaders an in-depth picture of how the New American Hospital operates and presents detailed, proven guidance for undertaking the transition that hospitals must make if they are to adapt. Over the past thirteen years, Sherman has consulted with hundreds of hospitals, helping health care executives across the country to make successful organizational transformation happen. Offering detailed examples drawn from field experience, he demonstrates how hospitals have effectively applied his management approach and achieved demonstrable and rapid improvements in customer satisfaction, quality, staff growth, organizational climate, productivity, innovation, and profitability. Sherman describes the New American Hospital model and how it differs from the failing management approach associated with the industry's past. He details how this new model requires a complete revision of management approach, use of people, response to the customer, and organization structure. And he offers guidelines for understanding and carrying out the many aspects of organizational renewal - including assessing change readiness, formulating a plan, and gaining consensus; implementing, refining, and sustaining the change process; and instituting a system of measurement and rewards that will encourage staff to drive the change process forward.