Effective Hospital Management: 5 Best Practices

Hospital management teams ensure that patients receive the highest level of acute care by overseeing large-scale operational functions. On any given day, these important administrative members may attend budget meetings about facility-wide expenditures, review quality indicator data, or help update policies according to new evidence.

Their jobs are wide-ranging, encompassing many variables that require clinical awareness alongside business expertise and the ability to work as part of a large team. For more information about this crucial role, we’ll provide an overview of what management in a hospital looks like at baseline, before offering five best practices for truly effective acute care management.

With these best practices, you and your team will be better equipped to guide your hospital proactively into the future of healthcare’s changing landscape.

What Is Hospital Management vs. Administration?

Hospital administration vs. management can be tricky to differentiate because of the roles’ significant overlap. In fact, hospital management is part of the facility’s administration. However, it would be wrong to refer to managers as administrators as it understates their leadership function. Managers, like hospital chief executive officers (CEOs), direct organizational-wide efforts whereas as an administrator (like a privacy officer) directs department-level initiatives with a narrower scope, such as compliance efforts. Other management-specific titles include:

• Chief Nursing Officer (CNO)
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Chief Operating Officer (COO)
• Director of Nursing (DON)

Many manager roles belong at the C-suite or executive level and require advanced degrees beyond a bachelor’s (though, some facilities may list graduate degrees as preferred rather than mandatory). Hospitals may also require specific training through hospital management degree programs or healthcare administration credentials. Depending on the position, relevant clinical expertise and experience may also be necessary.

Hospital Management: Systems vs. Personnel

The people who manage hospitals are different from the technological systems that automate many of the processes they supervise. These systems help management teams work more efficiently by tracking and organizing operational functions, including:

• Patient data through electronic health records (EHRs) and quality indicators.
• Financial processes (like payroll and unit expenditures).
• Inventory management and supply procurement.
• Scheduling and/or bed availability data.

These systems often guide hospital management strategies by identifying patterns in key metrics and informing resource allocation. For example, hospital staff management may rely on software that allows them to build and distribute schedules with integrated regulatory stopgaps to ensure compliance while optimizing care costs.

Hospitals’ Management Red Flags

Because their main function is to ensure the integrity of quality patient care through smooth operational flow and proper resource allocation, managerial red flags are usually consistent with system-wide issues. These are some of the most common signs of hospital mismanagement:

Consistent Staffing Shortages

High turnover rates and consistently short staffing can be a sign of mismanagement in a hospital. Doctor and staff management systems that aren’t providing adequate coverage or staffing ratios can result in negative patient outcomes and perpetuate events that lead to attrition (like burnout).

Protocol and Procedural Negligence

When protocols are neither established nor followed, it’s a bad sign for management. Implementing new or updated procedures requires careful change management with proper education and training to ensure program success. Patterns in policy non-adherence are a sign of a managerial (rather than staff-level) issue.

Frequent Communication Breakdowns

Because communication is critical to operational flow, it’s up to leadership to ensure that messaging is open, clear, and understood across disciplines and departments. Bad communication is a red flag, risking patient safety and outcomes.

High Prevalence of Patient Safety Incidences

When quality indicators (like patient falls or hospital-acquired infections) reveal a problem with patient care, it’s up to management to address the system-wide issue with large-scale interventions. Failure to do so sets a dangerous precedent for patient care and indicates a problem at the organizational level.

Facility and Environmental Concerns

For clinicians to provide quality care, they need the lights to turn on and a clean working environment. If the facilities aren’t equipped with the necessary utilities or functionality for proper care delivery, that’s a glaring red flag for the people who are supposed to ensure a safe, beneficial work environment.

Management of Hospitals: 5 Best Practices

Now that we’ve reviewed some of the different roles within a hospital’s management team, what they provide, and some red flags for mismanagement, let’s get into best practices. Here are five key hospital management strategies (examples included), to help you direct your operations with confidence.

1. Center the Hospital Mission Statement

Healthcare is constantly in flux, whether from changing regulations or new research that necessitates practice overhauls. By centering the facility’s overarching mission, leadership can use that statement like a compass to guide them through changes with a clear vision and objectives.

Example: A COO oversees a facility-wide transition to a new EHR system that will allow for better intersystem communication, aligning with the facility mission to provide innovative care. Because the mission also calls for compassion in all aspects of care provision, the COO advocates for increased staffing during the rollout to ensure that clinicians have extra time to dedicate to the change without compromising their ability to connect with patients.

2. Keep Clinical and Business Goals Forward Thinking

Many hospital managers may have backgrounds within hospital administration. Especially for leaders with that experience, it can be difficult to avoid getting swept into the daily concerns of such a complex system. By prioritizing long-term objectives and remaining focused on the future, managers maintain their leadership presence and display trust in the administrators who are meant to handle the minutiae.

Example: Nursing attrition rates spike at a hospital and the CNO has the initial reactionary impulse to begin filling all vacancies as quickly as possible. However, after re-evaluating long-term goals, the CNO develops a plan that balances resource allocation between retention efforts and recruitment, keeping management strategies future-focused rather than simply short-term.

3. Leverage Core Strengths to Drive Outcome Improvement

This starts at the leadership level and extends organization wide. A great manager will leverage their own strengths (like communication and business acumen) to improve processes and quality initiatives. Truly effective managers will also dedicate time to recognizing what’s working well at the staff and process levels, using those strengths to inform and fuel other programs.

Example: A patient safety manager (PSM) recognizes a significant drop in hospital-acquired pressure ulcer incidences on a critical care unit. They interview staff members and the unit’s safety council, gathering information about their process. The PSM is then able to harness that data, applying similar strategies to address other system-wide safety initiatives.

4. Prioritize Intersystem and Interprofessional Collaboration

Hospital patients require services that range across disciplines and, often, facilities. An effective management approach prioritizes that teamwork to ensure smooth care transitions and seamless working relationships between departments.

Example: A smaller hospital CEO collaborates with the leading trauma center in the local area to establish a transfer agreement that optimizes workflow for both facilities while ensuring faster transfers for patients who require higher levels of care, helping them access necessary treatments more quickly.

5. Maintain Healthcare Market Awareness

From regulatory shifts to technological advances, the methods and means of healthcare are constantly evolving. By working to stay updated about these changes, management can take a proactive approach, helping facilities stay ahead of the curve rather than getting stuck in cycles of reactionary measures.

Example: A hospital’s CFO recognizes that reimbursement models are shifting toward value-based care and advocates for integrating more outpatient services to increase patient volumes and services that will boost revenue during the adjustment phase of this new repayment approach. By changing some of their business practices early, the hospital is able to maintain steady income throughout the change process.

Looking for Help Staying Updated on Healthcare’s Changes?

Whether you’re looking for best practices to guide updated hospital management strategies, nursing care, or hiring programs, we’ve got you covered. Our wide range of facility guides and healthcare tips can help you stay ahead of the curve with digestible, expert-backed insights.