West Florida Regional Medical center (WFRMC) is located on the north side of Pensacola, Florida. It is associated with Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), and “the West Florida Healthcare campus includes the all private room acute care hospital, the area’s only comprehensive physical rehabilitation hospital, and a mental health facility” (West Florida Hospital, 2010). When looking at the decision to invest heavily into total quality management (TQM), you must look at its history and hospital statistics of the Pensacola area. In 1992, there was intense competition between WFRMC and the other two hospitals within the area, Sacred Heart and Baptist Hospitals (McLaughlin & Kaluzny, 2006). “The 130 doctors practicing at the Medical Center Clinic and its satellite clinics admitted mostly to WFRMC, whereas most of the other doctors in this city of 150,000 practiced at both Scared Heart and Baptists Hospitals” (p.522). At the time it was estimated that 90% to 95% of patients that would be admitted into any of the hospitals would experience discounted prices due to the competition within the area. This discount applied to “mostly Medicare for the elderly, CHAMPUS for military dependents, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida for employed and their dependents” (p.522). Within the area and over the past four years a trend showed success with continuous quality improvement (CQI) with areas that utilized package prices for services required (McLaughlin & Kaluzny, 2006). This provided the basis for TQM, which would provide “ways to analyze and change processes to improve quality” (Banham, 1993). Improving quality in an area of competition is important to maintain stability for a health care facility.…