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March 1992
August 1995 (revised)
November 2000 (revised)
November 2005 (revised)
November 2010 (revised)
November 2011 (revised)
Statement of the Issue
The number and significance of challenges facing healthcare organizations are unprecedented. Growing financial pressures, rising public and payor expectations, consolidations and mergers, patient safety and quality improvement issues, and healrhcare reform have placed healthcare organizations under great stress - thus potentially intensifying ethics concerns and conflicts.
Healthcare organizations must be led and managed with integrity and consistent adherence to professional and ethical standards. The executive, in partnership with the board, and acting with other responsible parties such as ethics committees, must serve as a role model and foster and support a culture that not only provides high-quality, cost-effective healthcare but promotes the ethical behavior and practices of individuals throughout the organization.
Recognizing the significance of ethics to the organization's mission and fulfuMment of its responsibilities, healthcare executives must demonstrate the importance of ethics in their own actions and seek various ways to...