Editorial: An Urgent Need for Investment in Health Management Education

Internationally the agenda for healthcare reform has moved rapidly. In Australia, the health care system has recently undergone significant structural changes to target sustainable improvements to the performance of health service delivery. Throughout this process there has been growing attention to the importance that leadership and management can play in the ultimate success of improved health service delivery. The quality of the management and leadership education within the health services and state health authorities has been shown to be crucial to better patient outcomes. Despite leadership being integral to the success of reform, the national strategies have failed to address the leadership and management education, development and training needed at the health care and health services level. The Australian health service reforms ignore the critical issues of planning and investment towards the education and development required for a system targeting management and decision making at the hospital level. The two prominent professional bodies which nationally promote health management education, research and professional development are the Society for Health Administration Programs in Education (SHAPE) and the Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM). Both groups have recently sought commitment from the government, health departments and healthcare providers to invest in health management education through supporting the continuing professional development and training of the health management workforce.