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Hospitals, physician groups, and other healthcare organizations (HCOs) are joining together in a multitude of new ways in ever increasing numbers. This process or strategy is often called “integrating” and results in some form of integrated delivery system (IDS) or accountable health plan (AHP) if an insurance function is part of the system. Recent literature suggests that many HCOs are not meeting their integration objectives, with resulting financial and structural difficulties. One of the major causes is the failure to follow a developed plan for integration planning and implementation. Organizations in other industries often rely on written guides to help them efficiently accomplish complex projects. HCOs that use a guide such as the one suggested here should improve the chances of a successful and financially viable integration.

The relentless onslaught of computers and communications technologies has recently descended on the healthcare industry. Fortunately, however, the utilization of technologies in healthcare delivery and administration could not be timelier because of the need to control escalating health costs. While the proliferation of information and communication technologies in healthcare, referred to as health management information systems (HMIS), is certainly long overdue in healthcare organizations (HCOs), it is important to recognize and be prepared for the vulnerabilities of these technologies to natural, technological, and man‐made disasters. This paper describes how HCOs have justifiably become dependent on HMIS and how these organizations may proactively plan for disasters which can impact on HMIS. A phased approach, referred to as the disaster recovery and business continuity (DRBC) planning model, is presented in the paper as an approach to develop and implement business continuity plans in HCOs.

The current research aims to analyze the literature to determine its strengths and weaknesses and extract the required information, which will be used to identify the characteristics of the highly competitive organization (HCO), define it and identify the HCO's critical success factors (CSFs). Finally, the future research agenda will be proposed.

A multiple stages research methodology was used to fulfill the research objectives. The research started with the systematic literature review (SLR). Then, focus group discussions and Pareto analysis were used to fulfill research objectives.

Eleven points were identified in the research to represent the characteristics of the HCO. Then, the HCO was defined based on the elements of these points. Moreover, the vital few CSFs to successfully implement many research scopes were identified. Then, the CSFs of the HCO was generated based on these vital few CSFs.

The main limitation of the current research is the literature sample size. A larger sample selection could enrich the generated lists with many other CSFs.

Many implications points were highlighted in this research which showed the importance of the current research for academic and practical audiences.

The SLR process showed that the reviewed literature lacked a consolidated list of the HCO characteristics and a clear definition of the HCO. Moreover, the reviewed literature lacked a unified list of the HCO CSFs. Therefore, the current research approach is novel and original.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the role that halal certification organisations (HCOs) play in the UK in assuring quality in halal cosmetics.

The study evaluates whether halal certification assures the quality of halal cosmetic products. This research evaluated the quality assurance systems of major UK HCOs, using a hypothetical product as a test vehicle. The investigation considered whether these organisations differ in their definition of “halal” and “halal cosmetics” and also considered how effectively their certification signals quality assurance.

The study indicated that there is a failure to adopt holistic halal terminology which implies that within the UK halal cosmetics industry, manufacturers may not be working within agreed standards for halal product integrity.

This study focussed on UK certification for halal cosmetics by three HCOs and disregarded other forms of halal businesses. The literature review is based solely on literature available in the English language. The study lacks generalisability, as only one hypothetical product was tested; therefore, it was not possible to reach an understanding of all the costs involved in UK HCO certification.

This study undertook a comprehensive literature review on halal certification to produce a comparison of halal sanctioning laws, certification processes and the level of supply chain verification by UK HCOs.

This study adds value to the knowledge on UK halal certification.

Given that staff‐management relationships are a core concern for communication management, upward feedback is emerging as a key theme in the literature. It is, however, most often associated with upward appraisal. This study looks at upward feedback in a more general sense, and in particular at whether such feedback is critical or positive in its response to senior management decisions. One hundred and forty‐six staff within a health care organisation (HCO) were surveyed, using a depth communication audit instrument. Fifteen staff were also interviewed in detail, and six focus groups each composed of six people were also convened. The results indicated that informal upward feedback was mostly absent; that where it occurred the feedback was inaccurately positive; that senior managers were unaware of such distortions and unwilling to contemplate the possibility that they did indeed exist; that they had an exaggerated impression of how much upward feedback they received; and that they discouraged the transmission of critical feedback. The implications for the practice of communication management, the development of upward influence within organisations and general theoretical reasons for distortions in feedback processes are considered.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the application of evidence-based management to chronic disease healthcare.

Chronic healthcare is specially characterized by recursive patient-physician interactions in which evidence-based medicine (EBM) is applied. However, implementing evidence-based solutions to improve healthcare quality requires managers to effect changes in many different areas: organizational structure, procedures, technology and in physician/provider behaviors. To complicate matters further, they must achieve these changes using the tools of resource allocation or incentives. The literature contains many systematic reviews evaluating the question of physician and patient behavior under various types and structures of incentives. Similarly, systematic reviews have also been done regarding specific changes to the healthcare process and their effectiveness in improving patient outcomes. Yet, these reviews uniformly lament a lack of appropriate data from well-organized studies on the question of “Why?” solutions may work in one instance while not in another. The authors present a new theoretical framework that aids in answering this question.

This paper presents a new theoretical framework (Influence Model of Chronic Healthcare) that identifies: the critical areas in which managers can effect changes that improve patient outcomes; the influence these areas can have on each other, as well as on patient and physician behavior; and the mechanisms by which these influences are exerted. For each, the authors draw upon, and present the evidence in the literature. Ultimately, the authors recognize that this is a complex question that has not yet been fully researched. The contribution of this model is twofold: first, the authors hope to focus future research efforts, and second, provide a useful heuristic to managers who must make decisions with only the lesser-quality evidence the literature contains today.

This model can be used by managers as a heuristic either ex ante or ex post to determine the effectiveness of their decisions and strategies in improving healthcare quality. In addition, it can be used to analyze why actions or decisions taken achieved a given outcome, and how best to proceed to effect further improvements on patient outcomes. Last, the model serves to focus attention on specific questions for further research.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the value of post‐modern psychosocial approaches to studying knowledge and practice construction in health care organizations and settings (HCO&S) and the increasing ability of qualitative research to furnish a deeper, more ecological, and more usable understanding of the social construction of health knowledge and practices.

The argument proposed in the paper is based on a critical literature review conducted on the Psychinfo, Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science databases.

Recent years have seen cultural changes in the values and goals of healthcare interventions that are deeply reconfiguring HCO&S. These changes are reframing HCO&S action and are highlighting the importance of understanding and managing not only the “expert context” but also the “lay contexts” of healthcare interventions. In an attempt to deal with these emergent changes (and challenges), HCO&S are taking advantage of new insights matured in the post‐modern turn of organizational analysis. In this frame, qualitative research proves suitable for connecting HCO&S needs and priorities with the new post‐modern paradigm of knowledge‐ and practice‐sharing in organizations.

The paper demonstrates the value of qualitative research in the analysis of HCO&S and casts light on the new research trends and new technical‐methodological options arising in this field.

The present research aims to understand the performance disclosure levels provided by Italian healthcare organisations (HCOs). The authors conducted this study to assess the transparency of HCOs' performance reporting processes by examining the amount and the type of information disclosed in Annual Performance Reports (APRs).

The present study uses a qualitative research methodology based on manual content analysis. The APRs of a sample of 171 Italian public HCOs were analysed.

Results evidence that the APRs provide a sufficient level of disclosure of performance information, putting high attention on the epidemiological conditions; however, the APRs do not present a strong information function for stakeholders' decision-making purposes. The Italian HCOs APRs are not easily understandable because the APRs are not very concise and present information mainly in discursive terms with limited graphic support.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first research investigating both the extent and type of performance information reported by Italian HCOs in the APRs, considering the particular contextual conditions caused by the most significant challenge the healthcare (HC) sector has faced in recent years: the epidemiological crisis of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The study also explores whether APRs are currently used by HCOs as a merely regulatory requirement or as an information tool for accountability and decision-making purposes.

The present study aims to extend the knowledge of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) disclosure practices in the Italian Healthcare Organisations (HCOs) context. The ultimate goal of the study is to provide fresh insight into the possible explanatory factors that may drive the extent of ICD provided by Italian HCOs via the web.

The present study applies a manual content analysis on the websites of a sample of 158 HCOs to determine the level of voluntary ICD. A multivariate regression model is estimated to test the association between different variables – size, gender diversity in top governance positions, financial performance and indebtedness – and the level of ICD provided by sampled HCOs through their official websites.

Content analysis results reveal that – in the absence of mandatory requirements – Italian HCOs tend to use websites to disclose information about IC. Particular attention is devoted to Structural and Relational Capital. The statistical analysis pinpoints that size and indebtedness negatively influence the level of ICD. In contrast, the presence of a female General Manager (GM) positively drives ICD. Also, it is observed that Research and University HCOs and those located in the Italian Northern Regions are particularly prone to discharge accountability on IC through websites.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines voluntary ICD practices through websites in the Italian HCOs' context. Also, since prior studies on IC in the healthcare context are mainly descriptive or normative, this is the first study examining the potential determinants of ICD provided by HCOs in terms of size, gender diversity in top governance positions, financial performance and indebtedness.

The primary objective of this article is to explore what senior managers think they should be doing to improve communication in their organization, what they actually do in communication terms, and the high work load which senior managers undertake.

This understanding is advanced by using the results of a communication audit which was conducted in a major European health‐care organization (HCO) undergoing significant internal re‐organization. A communication audit can be defined as: “a comprehensive and thorough study of communication philosophy, concepts, structure, flow and practice within an organisation”. It assists managers by “providing an objective picture of what is happening compared with what senior executives think (or have been told) is happening”.

First, senior managers who over‐work are even less likely to have the time for reflection, followed by behaviour change. Second, the absence of adequate upward communication may blind managers to the full nature of their problems, which in turn guides the search for solutions.

Clearly there is a need to examine other types of organizations to establish the universality of the communication issues and problems that were found in a large HCO in Europe, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

The data suggest that attempting to cover up communication weaknesses by managers working even longer hours only has the effect of further disempowering people, and so accentuating rather than alleviating the underlying difficulty.

The article has value to fellow academics and managers in practice and contributes to the debate on upward communication and the workload of managers.