The absence of a ‘business case’ for quality is frequently
cited as the reason health care organizations do not implement
QEIs, despite decades of careful research demonstrating
their effectiveness [1]. From the perspectives of both
private sector health care delivery organizations and government
agencies charged with funding or delivering health care
services, operating managers are reluctant to invest scarce
resources in QEIs that cannot be shown to pay for themselves
within a relatively short time horizon. Even in the
most enlightened organizations, managers charged with
maintaining the financial solvency of the entity are concerned
with the impact of new programs in the current
budget year