Hospital systems in the U.S. are at a crisis point. Among the many changes ushered in with the new health care law is the shift to value-based purchasing, which ties a system’s Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to the quality of the services it provides.  For many systems, the mandate will now be to improve clinical processes and ensure a high-quality patient experience — an outcome highly dependent on the commitment, dedication and skills of a hospital’s employees who have an enormous impact on the overall patient experience. In fact, with a potential 2% loss in reimbursements for hospitals that cannot meet specific patient satisfaction and quality of care outcomes, the link from employee actions to patient experience to financial results could not be more direct. Losses amounting to millions of dollars for many hospitals and systems that receive half or more of their funding from government reimbursement are possible. It is, quite literally, a make-or-break moment for financial sustainability.