Confronting competing demands to improve quality: a five-country hospital survey.

This paper reports on a 2003 comparative survey of hospital executives in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Reflecting higher spending levels, U.S. hospitals as a group stand out for generally more positive ratings of facilities and finances and short or no waiting times. Yet U.S. hospital executives are also the most negative about their country's health care system. Hospital executives in all five countries expressed concerns about staffing shortages and emergency department waiting times and quality. Asked about future strategies to improve quality, executives in all five countries expressed support for making information technology an investment priority.