The considerable interest in quality management has filtered through to health-care organisations. It is now widely used as a basis for continuous operational and customer service improvement management. Although well accepted as an operational improvement tool, the role of quality in strategic management and marketing is less clear. Qualitative research was undertaken within one of Australia's largest private health care providers for the purpose of exploring the role that quality management plays in its operations. Interviews revealed that the organisation's major emphasis on continuous quality management had yielded significant strategic results since its inception. These included an industry first, five-year term accreditation, high-level standing with government, the medical profession and practitioners, health insurance companies and research institutions. Notwithstanding the benefits realised to date, there was a perceived need continuously to evaluate quality management against objective criteria and to integrate the process better with mainstream strategic management activities of the organisatio
