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Carlson is a corporate leader at Kimberly-Clark, teaches at Georgia State University
February 2, 2009
A new book on healthcare management practices co-authored by an Arnold School graduate is drawing praise from leaders in the industry.
Leading Healthcare Cultures: How Human Capital drives Financial Performance is a short work by Dr. Tom Atchison, an independent healthcare consultant from Hot Springs Village, AK and Dr. Greg Carlson, a 2008 HSPM grad from the Arnold School and manager of Global Health Services at Kimberly-Clark Corp. in Atlanta.
Dr. Greg Carlson
“Sharing their insights on the relationship between human capital and financial performance delivers a sharp focus on the most valuable asset of a healthcare organization in these challenging times,” said Dr. Berc Gawne, vice president of medical affairs at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, OH.
Carlson said he and Tom Atchison were motivated to write the book based on insights they learned over their years as a hospital administrator and consultant respectively.
Carlson says “Organizations committed to building a values-based culture are better positioned to achieve superior clinical and financial results.
Research for the book, both in health care and outside of healthcare, documents that organizations focused on creating values-based cultures consistently outperform their competition."
The book is available from Health Administration Press, the publishing arm of the American College of Healthcare Executives. The ACHE is an international professional society of more than 30,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations.
Publisher's notes indicate the book can help health care professionals "learn how to leverage both human and financial capital to improve employee and patient satisfaction, physician relationships, and profitability."
The book also includes “strategies for:
- Integrating your finance department into the culture of your organization
- Breaking down the silos that exist between departments
- Involving the medical staff to build a culture designed to improve physician–hospital relations
- Uniting the team by openly sharing information and promoting shared accountability
- Focusing on organizational values as the foundation for the budgeting process
- Measuring, analyzing, evaluating, and reporting human capital data
- Creating a 'Chief People Officer' charged with leading all human capital activities”
“Tom is a cherished mentor, with over 30 years of experience in physician-hospital relations, who is a master in helping people focus on important fundamentals, which he calls “blocking and tackling.” said Dr. Kenneth Cohn, a general surgeon and healthcare consultant.
“In the book, loaded with practical insights, the authors show how to develop cultures that value human capital in the same way that they value financial capital, because both are critical to long-term success,” Cohn said.
In his current position with Kimberly-Clark, Carlson is responsible for maintaining and improving the health of company employees and influencing the cost of health care services.
He served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of South Carolina while completing his PhD. Currently he is an instructor at Georgia State University in Atlanta where he teaches courses on managed care and executive leadership.
For ten years, he was chief executive officer of a 500-bed freestanding healthcare system with more than 2,500 employees.
Carlson has more than 25 years of experience as a hospital administrator, and his interests are focused on healthcare quality, physician relationships and practice models, organizational culture, and strategic planning.
