Management control in hospitals

Abstract

In the quest for quality in health services, management control is a critical factor for hospitals to be efficient. In this sense, it is necessary that hospital managers carry out performance evaluation in order to measure the management efficiency. This paper presents a discussion about two models for evaluating the management control function in hospitals: Hospital Certification and Reinforcement and Improvement Program for Quality in Hospitals (Pro-Hosp). The main objective was to analyze if hospitals disclose enough information to allow the evaluation of their management performance. This research was based on case studies carried out in three hospitals located in the State of Minas Gerais/Brazil. The first one is profit oriented, the second is charitable, and the third is a university hospital. The data analysis was performed according to three dimensions, each encompassing several variables as defined by Pro-Hosp (FJP, 2007) and LIMA, BARBOSA, PORTELA et al. (2004). It can be concluded that all studied hospitals are incipient in terms of management control.