Return on hospital employee education investment: Implications for healthcare executives

This research was conducted to explore the relationship between expenditures for hospital employee education (in 2000) and hospital profitability (in 2000 and 2001) in New York State. This study also evaluated the incidence of hospitals that employ a senior level executive (such as a chief learning officer) whose primary responsibility is employee education, training and development throughout the hospital.; Slightly positive associations were found when the variables of education expenditure were correlated with the variables of financial performance, however these were not considered statistically significant. Quartile comparisons of education expenditures and profit margins demonstrated patterns that may suggest that there is a threshold of education expenditure that may be associated with profitability.; Considering possible covariates, a statistically significant negative association was found between the percentage of payroll spent annually on employee education and percentage of employee unionization, suggesting that more highly unionized hospitals spend less on employee education.; Lastly, a statistically significant positive association was demonstrated when the variable of presence of the chief learning officer (CLO) was correlated with the variable of total revenue. Additionally, from an economic perspective, this research may provide pilot evidence that the reporting structure of the CLO directly to the hospital's CEO may affect profit margins as well as total revenue.