The value proposition is a concept in the business and management field that defines key advantages provided by a particular organization or its services and products. More specifically, the value proposition connotes the benefits that arise from the profits or conveniences of the services and products. Despite its broad application in various industries, the value proposition is considered an emerging trend in the healthcare system. Hence, it is important to examine the current value proposition methods and strategies for Paradise Hospital. Such an approach will help better understand the meaning behind value-added services, identify functional and specific areas where value is a necessary asset to improve patient care in the hospital.
Major Reasons to Add Value to Patient Services
The value proposition is a credible and coherent set of claims that indicate the product’s value or service to medical professionals and patients. In general, the healthcare reform primarily concentrates on defining value as the outcome divided by cost. The patient system of care and population health requires increased emphasis on time to diagnosis and resolution. Therefore, efficiency resulting from the outcome over cost and time ultimately defines crucial benefits to society, patient productivity, and life quality (Sharan, Schroeder, West & Vaccaro, 2015). The cost of healthcare and related outcomes are directly dependent on the increased focus on value and its role in patient-oriented services. One of the primary reasons for adding value to patient services implies that healthcare providers need to determine their unique value proposition to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
Patient care services are crucial aspects of the hospital healthcare system and clinical treatment since they ensure patient safety, quality of care, and include patient diagnosis, treatment, drug prescription, and medical chart management. As such, the value-added services in healthcare settings care pledged to decrease the numerous incidents and procedures that jeopardize patients’ lives (Sharan et al., 2015). Another essential reason to add value to the patient care services implies its power to improve work conditions for the medical personnel in order to eliminate biased perceptions towards employees. In addition, the value proposition increases confidence among the stakeholders within a healthcare sector and, therefore, enhances customer engagement and shared understanding (Institute of Medicine, 2015). However, the most important aspect of adding value to the medical industry implies that it ensures the clarity of business value. With that said, the value proposition in patient care is crucial for ensuring high-quality service delivery and improved profits among medical professionals.
Identifying Functional Areas: The Key Methods
It is important to note that the advent of technological advancements promoted innovative methods to facilitate value addition in the healthcare system by the key stakeholders. According to Sharan et al. (2015), the value in the healthcare industry can be attained by offering “the lowest cost of treatment, convenient access, the high-standard outcomes, and exceptional patient experience” (p. 292). To identify the specified functional areas, which require significant changes regarding the improved hospital’s service value, it might be useful to conduct the SWOT and NOISE analysis. These two methods will help define the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats inherent to the Paradise Hospital healthcare management and the needs, improvements, and exceptions. Such the solution-focused approach reveals the most critical areas that need to be adjusted to meet the value-added patient care services.
The analyzed internal and external factors concerning the hospital’s management and administration will contribute to the detailed examination of the functional areas that lack value-added services. The identified strengths of the Paradise Hospital will demonstrate the most efficient and leading services provided to the patients by the current medical personnel. This might include implementing innovative medical equipment and advanced technological solutions that considerably ease and improve the modern medical treatment approach. Moreover, the hospital’s strong point might be presented by the highly skilled and qualified workforce that directly provides the services to the clients. As described by the Institute of Medicine (2015), the key elements of value proposition in terms of clinical services are focused on the customer’s needs. They involve a promise of the delivered value and a belief by the client that the value will be experienced according to the essential factors defined by the customer himself. Hence, the identified strengths of the hospital’s management must align with the patients’ primary needs.
More specifically, the value proposition is based on determining the competitive advantage of a particular organization. The determined weaknesses of the hospital services might serve as the key factors that need to be emphasized since they affect organizational operations. Considering the external factors, such as opportunities, threats, needs, and improvements, one can develop a broader perspective of the hospital’s growth and service delivery value. In particular, needs and exceptions are crucial for the value proposition approach, as they define what the hospital needs to address and encourages cooperation between the team of medical professionals. Such a strategy will foster the progress of the value-added services regarding patient care at the Paradise Hospital. Furthermore, the administration might apply one of the simplest yet effective methods, which entails customers’ feedback and research the successful medical facilities.
Four Specific Areas for Value Proposition
The value proposition can be incorporated within the particular functional elements of the hospital’s management. They include “quality and outcomes, operational efficiency, finance and activity, workforce, and culture and engagement” (Mikladal, 2018, para. 6). Regarding the Paradise Hospital administration, it would be necessary to operate within education and training of the staff, high-quality patient rounding, pharmacist-led medication therapy management (MTM), and clinical and financial partnership engagement.
The ongoing training of the medical personnel and hospital management is vital to maintain the quality of patient care and the stable progress of the hospital’s development. Such a strategy aims at verifying a certain level of comprehension and, thus, it is important to become more intentional about training programs. The patient rounding provides immediate feedback directly from the patients and helps understand how healthcare providers implement their processes and patient care. The implementation of pharmacist-led MTM reduces the total cost of care (Health Catalyst Editors, 2019). Ultimately, the clinical and financial partnership is targeted at financial and operational quality advancement and leads to critical changes, including process re-design, stakeholder engagement, and enhanced analytics.
Conclusion
The majority of medical facilities neglect the modern value propositions methods focused on improving care and increasing profits in most for-profit organizations and institutions. The integration of the value proposition in the hospitals ensures high-quality service provision and improved patient care outcomes. Hospitals concentrate on increasing profits since patients and clients are engaged in hospitals that deliver evidence-based services. For this reason, patients’ needs regarding their health and received care serve as the primary focus in developing value propositions methods to significantly improve the healthcare system and patient care services.
References
Health Catalyst Editors (2019). The top six examples of quality improvement in healthcare. Health Catalyst. Web.
Institute of Medicine. (2015). Integrating research and practice: Health system leaders working toward high-value care: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Web.
Mikladal, Sig (2018). A strong value proposition: The key to engaging the NHS in 2019 for SMEs. The Journal of mHealth, Web.
Sharan, A. D., Schroeder, G. D., West, M. E., & Vaccaro, A. R. (2015). Understanding a value chain in health care. Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques, 28(8), 291–293.