Organizing care during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of accounting in German hospitals

Christian Huber, Nadine Gerhardt and Jacob T. Reilley

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2021, vol. 34, issue 6, 1445-1456

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this study is to provide insight into the roles of accounting in the management of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in five German hospitals. Design/methodology/approach - The authors conducted three rounds of interviews, ethnographic observations of meetings and document analyses in five German hospitals between February and August 2020. Findings - The authors found that actors repeatedly used a central set of indicators (the number of beds for COVID-19 patients) when adapting a healthcare infrastructure to the pandemic. Accounting figures allowed actors to problematize prior configurations, organize processes to make uncertainty plannable and virtualize changes to resume treating non-COVID-19 patients. Practical implications - The authors offer suggestions about scenario planning and interorganizational learning which have implications for healthcare practitioners. Originality/value - The authors contribute to the accounting in crisis literature by adding an organization-focused study. Adding nuance to key themes in the literature, they show how the organizations and the field level interact and how organizing locally preceded economizing. They also offer a nonbinary answer to the question of whether or not changes revert back to “normal” after a crisis event.

Keywords: COVID-19; Hospitals; Accounting in crises; Healthcare; Nonfinancial indicators (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:aaajpp:aaaj-08-2020-4882

DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-08-2020-4882

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