Journal of Healthcare Management - May/June 2013 - (Page 234)

Journal of H ealt H care M anage Ment 58:3 M ay /J une 2013 while constituting a continual threat to patients and other employees in multiple institutions over many years. We are fully aware that legislation and regulation concerning negligent hiring and defamation of character lawsuits vary across the United States. Despite such variability, our data indicate little variability in terms of hospitals’ willingness to share employee information with one another. Because the best predictor of future job performance is past job performance and the best source of such information is past employers (Hader, 2005; Papadakis et al., 2005), hospitals should obtain employment reference information that goes beyond position held and dates of employment. With the demands on the U.S. health system expected to increase, the need for greater measures to investigate who works in this environment is paramount to ensure internal hospital security and patient safety. The current fragmented system increases the chances of a bad employee moving from hospital to hospital, taking advantage of a lack of interorganizational communication to hide past poor performance or criminal activity. Future research Future research on our topic should consider the following courses of inquiry: • Survey human resources directors exclusively, as they are likely to have documented evidence of the degree to which employee information is shared among facilities. • Distinguish and differentiate among the levels in the organization—higher-level executives, professional/technical employees, and nonprofessional employees—when administering surveys. • Report results by hospital size and system affiliation. • Determine how differences in state laws or in regional or county laws affect negligent hiring and defamation lawsuits. • Include additional independent variables that reflect differences in state legislation and their implications for employee information sharing. • Determine the relationship between employer information sharing and patient safety, quality, costs, and other outcomes. • Perform a cost–benefit analysis to quantify the relative costs and benefits of negligent hiring versus defamation lawsuits. • Conduct cost analysis and specific area risk exposure analysis. • Research the specific motivations underlying the decisions to share or not share information. limitations We do not believe the sample is representative of all U.S. hospitals because it is overrepresented by small and rural hospitals and underrepresented by large and urban hospitals. The response rate of 8.3 percent, or 154 respondents, is suboptimal, although not unexpected considering the sensitive legal topic. It became clear during the research process that many addresses were no longer current, and subsequently, some respondents had no opportunity to receive 234

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of Healthcare Management - May/June 2013

Journal of Healthcare Management - May/June 2013
Contents
Interview with Thomas C. Dolan, PhD, FACHE, CAE, President and CEO, American College of Healthcare Executives
Equity in Care: Picking Up the Pace
How Might a Reforming U.S. Healthcare Marketplace Threaten Balance Sheet Liquidity for Community Health Systems?
Assessing the Productivity of Advanced Practice Providers Using a Time and Motion Study
A Positive Deviance Perspective on Hospital Knowledge Management: Analysis of Baldrige Award Recipients 2002–2008
How to Improve Breast Cancer Care Measurement and Reporting: Suggestions from a Complex Urban Hospital
The Fear Factor in Healthcare: Employee Information Sharing

Journal of Healthcare Management - May/June 2013