A customized quality management implementation strategy.

Abstract

Austria's hospitals are not yet convinced total quality management (TQM) is a general cure for their problems. Neither competitive forces and cost consciousness nor regulations are pushing hospitals toward application of TQM methods. The Steiermärkische Krankenanstaltengesellschaft, a multihospital corporation, used a bottom-up approach to implementation of TQM as a way of dealing with the lack of a strong quality assurance tradition.