Hospital organizational innovation has achieved great momentum, both at international and national levels, in response to the need of providing high quality, efficient, appropriate, and equitable health care services. However, relatively little is known about the evolution in the design and use of management control systems in order to effectively cope with the challenges emerging from new organizational models. This represents a relevant research gap, as the literature highlights the relevance exerted by management control systems to support organizational innovation. In order to address this gap, this paper analyses three case studies and discusses the critical issues that characterize the evolution of management control systems in response to hospital organizational innovation processes.
Keywords: Hospital organizational innovation, management control systems, responsibility centers, performance measurement, vertical control, horizontal control.