Hope and Hyperbole: The Rhetoric and Reality of Managerial Reform in Health Care

Abstract:     
The scope of this essay is broad -- the dangers that much conventional management commentary represents for medical institutions and those who work in them. It emphasizes two themes in management talk about healthcare.

The first is the character of the language used to describe health care arrangements -- the "rhetoric of medical managerialism," a rhetoric that powerfully and misleadingly combines the jargon of modern management schools with the marketing hype of advertising. Second, it includes some observations about what this cautionary tale might mean for the daily work of health care professionals.

Accepted Paper Series