Longenecker to receive national healthcare executives' award for best published article

Clinton O. Longenecker, Ph. D. , Stranahan Professor of Leadership & Organizational Excellence in the University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation, and his brother, Paul D. Longenecker, R.N., Ph.D., are the winners of the 2015 Edgar C. Hayhow Award  from The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE).

Dr. Clinton O. Longenecker

They received the award for their research article, “Why Hospital Improvement Efforts Fail: A View From the Front Line,” published in the March/April 2014 issue of the Journal of Healthcare Management.

The award, to be presented during ACHE's 58th Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago March 16–19, represents breakthrough work in healthcare management.

Longenecker said, "Working with my brother Paul was terrific, as he has over 30 successful years of invaluable experience in a wide variety of healthcare professions. This allowed us an unique opportunity to combine his talents with my background in leadership and change."

"This recognition was very rewarding given the changing nature of healthcare," Longenecker continued. "It was great to be recognized for creating some discussion and practices around how to make changes in hospitals and healthcare systems more effective and timely, and we have been receiving a lot of feedback on our work since it was published."

Paul D. Longenecker is the senior instructor, department of health and sports sciences in the School of Professional Studies at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, and is a graduate of both UT's nursing and MBA programs."

In their research study, the Longeneckers sought to help healthcare leaders improve their understanding of the barriers to effective organizational change and improvement from the perspective of frontline leaders. Focus groups were conducted in four community hospitals to explore why hospital change and improvement efforts struggle and are ineffective. Analysis of the focus group data was featured in the article, as well as leadership lessons and recommendations for success based on the findings.

Dr. Paul Longenecker concluded," Hospitals really need to become better at practicing the fundamentals of effective change and leadership to be able to compete in the new healthcare reality."

The American College of Healthcare Executives is an international professional society of more than 40,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations.