TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of physicians on operational and financial performance in United States hospitals
T2 - staffing, human capital and knowledge spillovers
AU - Stock, Gregory
AU - McDermott, Christopher
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Purpose: The authors examine how physician staffing, human capital and knowledge spillovers are related to multiple dimensions of hospital operational and financial performance at the organizational level. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a data set assembled from multiple sources for more than 1,300 US hospitals and employ hierarchical linear regression to test this study’s hypotheses. The authors use multiple quality, efficiency and financial measures of performance for these hospitals. Findings: The authors find that higher levels of staffing, skills and knowledge spillovers associated with physicians were positively associated with multiple dimensions of hospital performance. The authors find linear and nonlinear relationships between experience and performance, with the relationships primarily negative, and nonlinear relationships between spillovers and quality performance. Practical implications: Hospital managers should consider increasing physician staffing levels if possible. In addition, the overall Final MIPS Score from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services might be included as a factor in determining which physicians practice in a hospital. Finally, if possible, encouraging physicians to practice at multiple hospitals will likely be beneficial to hospital performance. Originality/value: This study’s findings are original in that they explore how physician-specific staffing and human capital, which have received comparatively little attention in the literature, are related to several different dimensions of hospital-level operational and financial performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is also the first to examine the relationship between the construct of physician knowledge spillovers and hospital-level operational and financial performance.
AB - Purpose: The authors examine how physician staffing, human capital and knowledge spillovers are related to multiple dimensions of hospital operational and financial performance at the organizational level. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a data set assembled from multiple sources for more than 1,300 US hospitals and employ hierarchical linear regression to test this study’s hypotheses. The authors use multiple quality, efficiency and financial measures of performance for these hospitals. Findings: The authors find that higher levels of staffing, skills and knowledge spillovers associated with physicians were positively associated with multiple dimensions of hospital performance. The authors find linear and nonlinear relationships between experience and performance, with the relationships primarily negative, and nonlinear relationships between spillovers and quality performance. Practical implications: Hospital managers should consider increasing physician staffing levels if possible. In addition, the overall Final MIPS Score from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services might be included as a factor in determining which physicians practice in a hospital. Finally, if possible, encouraging physicians to practice at multiple hospitals will likely be beneficial to hospital performance. Originality/value: This study’s findings are original in that they explore how physician-specific staffing and human capital, which have received comparatively little attention in the literature, are related to several different dimensions of hospital-level operational and financial performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is also the first to examine the relationship between the construct of physician knowledge spillovers and hospital-level operational and financial performance.
KW - Hospital
KW - Human capital
KW - Knowledge spillovers
KW - Operational and financial perfo
KW - Physician
KW - rmance
KW - Staffing
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U2 - 10.1108/IJOPM-07-2022-0457
DO - 10.1108/IJOPM-07-2022-0457
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85146322565
SN - 0144-3577
JO - International Journal of Operations and Production Management
JF - International Journal of Operations and Production Management
ER -