Do hospitals without physicians on the board deliver lower quality of care?

This study examines whether hospitals without physician participation on their boards of directors deliver lower quality of care. Using data from California nonprofit hospitals from 2004 to 2008, the authors document that the absence of physicians on the board is associated with a decrease of 3 to 5 percentage points in 3 of 4 measures of care quality. This result was obtained using regression analysis, which controls for various hospital characteristics. The authors also identify factors that influence quality of care in hospitals. Specifically, hospital size, church affiliation, urban location, and system affiliation are positively associated with quality of care; proportion of Medicaid patient revenue and poverty level of the county in which the hospital is located are negatively associated with quality of care. These results highlight the importance of physician participation in hospital governance and indicate areas for hospitals and policy makers to focus on to enhance medical quality management.