The Intermountain chain of hospitals launched a program a few years ba

Question

The Intermountain chain of hospitals launched a program a few years back to reduce the incidence of employee and patient injuries during lifting and transferring of the patients. Reduction of such injuries is leading to an estimated savings of $500K annually; however, the extra training and equipment expenditure to implement the program cost around the same annually. Therefore, except for the intangible benefit of employee satisfaction and longer employee tenure, the program has not led to any economic benefit for the company.

Which of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the above argument?

(A) In the hospital industry, hiring and training new employees is a significantly costlier affair than retaining existing employees.

(B) The proportion of employees and patients who get injured during lifting and transferring of patients at the Intermountain chain of hospitals was stable before the program was launched.

(C) There are ways to reduce the program costs while maintaining the same level of training and the same quality of equipment.

(D) The incidence of employee and patient injuries can be reduced more by spending more money on the program.

(E) For the Intermountain chain of hospitals, the brand value in terms of patient care is very important.

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rosalynd · Answer

Okay, so this argument is saying that the hospital's program to reduce employee and patient injuries during lifting and transferring patients is not economically beneficial since the cost of training and equipment is the same as the savings from reduced injuries. We are asked to weaken this argument.

(A) says that it is more expensive for the hospital to hire and train new employees than to keep existing ones. This weakens the argument because if the program leads to longer employee tenure and satisfaction, then the hospital will save money on hiring and training new employees, making the program economically beneficial.

Therefore, (A) is the correct answer.

deborit · Answer

Why the option C is wrong? There are chances of savings from the additional cost projected.

siddhantvarma · Answer

Let's make sure you're getting the argument right:
" Therefore, except for the intangible benefit of employee satisfaction and longer employee tenure,  the program has not led  to any economic benefit for the company."

(C) says " There are ways to reduce the program costs while maintaining the same level of training and the same quality of equipment."
So in theory, if (C) were true and if the chain does reduce the program costs while maintaining the same level of training and quality of equipment, they could get a direct economic benefit. But we know they're currently not implementing these measures as the cost of the program = savings from it = $500K
We're looking for a reason that helps us say the  program has led to economic benefit . That's better than saying "something can lead to an economic benefit". Since (C) only talks about the potential to derive an economic benefit, it doesn't tell us that the benefit may be derived.

dejavu3363 · Answer

it is mentioned that "except for the intangible benefit of employee satisfaction and longer employee tenure", so we already considered this, and want more reasons/factors to weaken the argument. What answer A is suggesting is the same thing which is already considered by the argument, in terms of emp satisfaction. I thought we wanted some other reasons than these 2.  Bunuel  please share a thought

Presha123 · Answer

Therefore, except for the intangible benefit of employee satisfaction and longer employee tenure, the program has not led to any economic benefit for the company.
Argument states that it increased employee satisfaction
Option A suggests that hiring and training new emp is costlier than retaining the current ones. And if employees are satisfied and will serve longer employee tenure, the hospital wont have to pay extra to hire and train new emp. - Exactly what the argument is stating

If anything, it strengthens the argument

The Intermountain chain of hospitals launched a program a few years ba

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The Intermountain chain of hospitals launched a program a few years ba

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