My experience has been that Non Profit based healthcare is often misunderstood. Every business has a goal to meet a budget and to have enough profit (or whatever other name you wish to give it) to grow or better the business.  A privately owned business owner seeks to increase the value of the business and improve his/her personal “salary”.  Large companies that are nonprofits in the healthcare world can lose the concept of efficiency  or best business practices for the sake of profit but I am sure that those at the top never lose this idea.  An effective manager within a nonprofit must think like a business owner to help optimize the resources.  

Recently I heard a person say “We don’t make the decisions in that way because we are a nonprofit” but nearly in the next breath she said “The salaries of the therapists are lower because we are the only game in town.”  These two decisions are incongruous.  The salaries are lower as a result of a profit motive decision.  A nonprofit could pay more attention to the factors that could increase revenue and use the profits to increase the salaries of the professionals to draw in the best talent.  In my mind this should be the aim of a nonprofit competitor.  

I have always worked for “for-profit” organizations and businesses.  I have seen the greatest company successes when the salaries and benefits are competitive.  The desirable employees are drawn to these businesses and the companies benefits from their strengths.  The knowledge they bring, their strong ethical standards, and their passion provide for the patients and physicians and that makes the bottom line grow.