Question 1: Protocols are important in medicine. We use them anytime that a particularly important process needs to be completed in a sequential way for the benefit of our patients. What is your view of protocols in healthcare? As a healthcare manager, CNO, or CEO, how would you optimize compliance with protocols in your facility in order to assure consistent and high quality patient care?

Question 2: A popular concept in healthcare administration these days is the "service line." Let us put you in the CFO position for this question. For your own hospital, are you in favor of service lines? If yes, which specific service lines would you plan to utilize? If no, how would you plan to organize and manage the services of your hospital without service lines?

Question 3: One of the real challenges in medical practice around the world is that once clinical research is completed and published and the data clearly exists to support updates in treatment protocols, the changes are often not implemented! At least they are not implemented in a timely manner to benefit current patients. Why does that happen? As hospital CEO, CMO, or CNO, how would you work to assure that important documented changes in state-of-the-art treatment are well known and utilized in patient care decisions within your facility?

Question 4: It has long been said that the practice of any medical profession must be a "heuristic process." What does that mean to you, and how will you integrate this understanding into your own practice of healthcare management?

As a healthcare leader, you will be primarily interested in measuring clinical performance in terms of outcomes. Aside from the fact that your facility accrediting agency (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations - JCAHO) requires you to measure outcomes, what are some other reasons that this is so important? What are the key dimensions that you will want to include in your ongoing assessment of clinical performance?