Health care organizations continue to be plagued by labor shortage issues. Further complicating the already existing workforce challenges is an aging population poised to retire en masse within the next few years. With fewer cohorts in the age group of 25 to 44 years (Vital Speeches Day. 2004:71:23-27), a more mobile workforce (Grow Your Own Leaders: How to Identify, Develop, and Retain Leadership Talent, 2002), and an overall reduction in the number of individuals seeking employment in the health care field (J Healthc Manag. 2003:48:6-11), the industry could be faced with an unmanageable number of vacant positions throughout the organization. Bracing for the potential impact of these issues is crucial to the ongoing business continuity of health care organization. Many health care organizations have embraced succession planning to combat the potential labor famine. However, the health care industry as a whole seems to lag behind other industries in terms of succession planning efforts (Healthc Financ Manage. 2005;59:64-67). This article seeks to provide health care managers with a framework for improving the systematic preparation of the next generation of managers by analyzing the succession planning process. The proposition of these models is to initiate and simplify the gap reduction between theoretical concepts and future organizational application.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine funding models for Open Access (OA) digital data repositories whose costs are not wholly core funded. Whilst such repositories are free to access, they are not without significant cost to build and maintain and the lack of both full core costs and a direct funding stream through payment-for-use poses a considerable financial challenge, placing their future and the digital collections they hold at risk. Design/methodology/approach -The authors document 14 different potential funding streams for OA digital data repositories, grouped into six classes (institutional, philanthropy, research, audience, service, volunteer), drawing on the ongoing experiences of seeking a sustainable funding for the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). Findings -There is no straight forward solution to funding OA digital data repositories that are not wholly core funded, with a number of general and specific challenges facing each repository, and each funding model having strengths and weaknesses. The proposed DRI solution is the adoption of a blended approach that seeks to ameliorate cyclical effects across funding streams by generating income from a number of sources rather than overly relying on a single one, though it is still reliant on significant state core funding to be viable. Practical implications -The detailing of potential funding streams offers practical financial solutions to other OA digital data repositories which are seeking a means to become financially sustainable in the absence of full core funding. Originality/value -The review assesses and provides concrete advice with respect to potential funding streams in order to help repository owners address the financing conundrum they face.

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A study was conducted to analyze the perceptions of chief executive officers in US hospitals regarding leadership development and succession planning. Results of the study were compared to identical surveys delivered in previous years for the purposes of identifying possible trends and changing perspectives related to how executives use succession planning in their facilities, what factors influence the identification of successors, what positions are the more likely to use succession planning efforts, and who specifically should be responsible for building the leadership pipeline.

Over the last few years, most health care facilities have become intensely aware of the need to increase patient satisfaction. However, with today's more consumer-driven market, this can be a daunting task for even the most experienced health care manager. Recent studies indicate that focusing on employee satisfaction and subsequent employee retention may be strong catalysts to patient satisfaction. This study offers a review of how employee satisfaction and retention correlate with patient satisfaction and also examines the current ways health care organizations are focusing on employee satisfaction and retention.

Type of publicationArticle (peer-reviewed)Link to publisher's version http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00799-014-0129-8Access to the full text of the published version may require a subscription. Rights

Lean Daily Management (LDM) is a performance improvement process used by health care organizations to reduce waste and increase value. Designed to transform health care professionals into organizational problem solvers, LDM tools have been used throughout the health care industry, but full integration of this performance improvement initiative has largely evaded health care organizations. To demonstrate the effectiveness of LDM, research was conducted to evaluate the costs associated with product returns and overnighted products as monitored by a materials management department, which found that these were specific areas where excessive resources were frequently used.

The delivery and coverage of healthcare varies drastically country to country. The United States (U.S.) and Taiwan present a case of contrasting healthcare systems from the roots up as one relies on a single-payer system and the other utilizes a multi-payer system. Along with other differences including health status, cost of care, and utilization of care, there are also notable similarities among the two systems. This paper will analyze the similarities and major differences between the two systems. A literature review was conducted to identify the major characteristics of the two systems and report health statuses for the two countries to compare the level of care provided under varying delivery models. Both qualitative and quantitative data was used to draw conclusions regarding the similarities and difference between the U.S.