Assignment task:
You are appointed manager for your hospital's new cardiac bypass surgery program. Because of tight reimbursement pressures, you are told to pay close attention to costs per case. After three years of experience with the program, the number of cases more than doubles and costs per case declines by 40 percent. After another year of experience with the program, the number of cases does not increase any more but costs per case decline by another 15 percent.
Identify and explain the concept that was likely to underlie in large part why costs per case declined during the initial three years of the program. Also, identify and explain at least one principle that may have been behind why costs continued to decline after the first three years of the program.