TQM in hospitals and the role of information systems in providing quality services

There is an increasing interest in hospitals in the US to apply total quality management (TQM) principles to improve service quality. This is due to the fact that in recent years healthcare has been criticized for its low quality service at high costs which are continuously increasing. Another motivation for utilizing TQM in healthcare is the success that TQM has had in other service industries. Based on interviews with TQM and information systems officials in some US hospitals, this study identifies and discusses some critical issues in providing high quality service in hospitals and explores the crucial role that both TQM and hospital information systems can play in this endeavor.