Profs. Minztberg and Vedat on improving healthcare
Better management practices would improve Canadian health care, according to many experts in the organization and administration of medicine. From reimbursement formulas for physicians to the way we conceptualize health care, institutions, practices and practitioners must be transformed if our system is to become sustainable while providing excellent care. "Health care is part of the social sector, which is quite different from the public and private sectors," says Dr. Henry Mintzberg, professor of Management Studies at Mc-Gill University. "Some people argue that the government has to control health care for the sake of equality. Others say markets have to control it for the sake of efficiency. I say that the role of the social sector is to ensure quality. A balanced health-care system combines equality, efficiency and quality." Health-care administration can improve only when managers are thoroughly prepared for their roles. "Most of the administrators in health care are former clinicians, and it would be unrealistic to expect them to become excellent managers simply through on-the-job experience," explains professor Vedat Verter, co-director of McGill's joint MD-MBA program, whose graduates are ideally positioned to become health-care leaders with solid backgrounds in medicine and management. Such managers are too scarce, he argues, and this is part of a wider problem.
Financial Post