Outcomes management is defined as the relationship between outcomes in clinical research and patient satisfaction. Besides measuring morbidity and mortality, outcomes management takes into account the quality of healthcare received from the patient’s perspective. In an organization,

this requires the implementation of quality systems. The following case study illustrates several of the issues that can arise when implementing a system-wide healthcare quality improvement system.

Midwest Medical Center is composed of a 475-bed hospital, a 120-bed long-term care facility and a visiting nurse agency. The medical staff is an older, conservative group wary of change.

The employees pride themselves on being part of their local hospital, but have recently become disturbed at the changes occurring in their health system.

Recently, the government, health insurance companies, and the state hospital association have started publishing quality outcomes for the hospitals in the