scholarly journals Defining Health Service Eco-System “Infection”: A Critical Analysis of Patient Surveys

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria V. Ciasullo ◽  
Orlando Troisi ◽  
Silvia Cosimato ◽  
Alex Douglas

Purpose – This paper focuses on the analysis of the most common tools that health care organizations use to assess the quality of the delivered services, the patient surveys. In line with the results of a systematic literature review on the issue, the study embraces service ecosystem perspective to understand why these surveys are unable to grasp actors’ disposition to co-create value for the health care system. Methodology – An in-depth literature review based on PRISMA framework explored 34 works on the topic of patient surveys in order to trace the evolution of the relationship users/providers and to highlight the criticalities related to the adoption of patient surveys in service-oriented era. The study discusses critically their efficacy to understand how they can affect (positively or negatively) the viability of a health care service eco-system. Findings – The literature review highlights patient surveys inability in grasping the real perception that patients have of experienced services and in involving them in value co-creation, through their engagement in service design and delivery. Moreover, the results reveal the need to adopt Service Dominant (S-D) Logic and service eco-system perspective to reread the traditional tools to measure quality in healthcare. For this reason, the metaphor of health service eco-system “infection” is launched, depicting the negative influence of patient satisfaction surveys on value co-creation and the subsequent service eco-system viability. Practical implications – The study shows that assuming a service eco-system perspective based on S-D logic, health care system should boost and preserve value co-creation processes. Moreover, institutions should foster those “rules of the game” that institutionalize the contribution of health providers to value co-creation, defining specific strategies to avoid the “infections” of health care service eco-system, e.g. investing and promoting non-detrimental tools.Originality – This study represents one of the first attempts to reread the tools used to assess patient embracing a service eco-system perspective. Interesting implications have been presented in terms of the negative effect that traditional assessment tools have on providers, patients and the whole society.

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (02) ◽  
pp. 157-165
Author(s):  
Anders L. Nielsen ◽  
Alok Kumar

AimThe major objectives of this study were to evaluate the existing pediatrics health care service provisions and utilizations of the public polyclinics in Barbados. Furthermore, the aim was to assess if the existing manpower resources were adequate.BackgroundBarbados has a mixed health care system consisting of both a socialized and a private health care system. The Ministry of Health commissioned a needs assessment survey of the pediatrics primary health care at the public polyclinics.MethodsPrimary data were collected through interviews with the public primary health care providers. Secondary data were collected from the Barbados Census Data and Ministry of Health statistics. Data were analyzed to assess the pediatrics primary health care service utilization and adequacy of existing resources at the polyclinics.FindingsIn 2012, there were 62 934 visits from children <16 years of age to the public polyclinics in Barbados and this accounted for 39.1% of all visits (both adults and children) to the polyclinics. An overall 16.7% of the visits were from children less than five years old to the Well Child Clinic for immunization and for growth and development monitoring; 32% of all physician consultations at the polyclinics were for children <16 years. Utilization of health services by children at the polyclinics was 5245 visits/month. Given an expected monthly demand for 10 822 visits from children, the polyclinics serve 48.5% of the primary health care demand for children in Barbados.ConclusionsThe public polyclinics play a pivotal role in the pluralistic primary health care system in Barbados. They fulfill nearly half of all the primary care demand and more importantly provides for almost the entire immunization demand, and thereby ensuring high coverage.The existing resources, if used optimally, would reduce the long consultation time observed in this setting, and thereby increase the capacity considerably.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Nabila Asghar ◽  
Majid Ali ◽  
Fatima Farooq ◽  
Urooj Talpur

For the last few decades, demographic changes require new and expensive medical innovations, which ultimately put the health care system under financial pressure. Therefore, provision of efficient services for the sustainability in health care system is mandatory. The objective of this study is to explore the performance of health care services provided in 55 OIC member countries during 2011 and 2015.The bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis and Truncated regression approach have been applied to observe the health system and estimate the efficiency score  in 55 OIC member countries. The findings of DEA show that cost efficiency (CE), technical efficiency (TE) and allocative efficiency (AE) of health care system of OIC member countries on average are 0.52, 0.72, and 0.70, respectively. It indicates that OIC countries are not good at selecting cost efficient input mix. The results of truncated regression approach indicate that out-pocket health expenditures is the most important determinant relative to other indicators. It is suggested that it is hard to improve the overall health system at most efficient level. For this purpose there is a need to educate the mass and provide the better opportunities so that people can earn handsome amount, through which they may have better health care.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Moore ◽  
Kelsey M Conrick ◽  
Ashok Reddy ◽  
Ann Allen ◽  
Craig Jaffe

Abstract The perspective of homeless adults on their health care service utilization is not well studied. This article describes a study that used in-depth, semistructured interviews with 18 individuals to highlight the viewpoints of homeless people who are frequent users of the emergency department (ED) about the influence of life events on service utilization. Participants reported high levels of pain and comorbid psychiatric, substance use, and medical conditions. They also reported an identifiable pattern of health care utilization, often centered on a crisis event, influenced by high perceived medical needs, inability to cope after crisis, predisposing vulnerability from social determinants of health, and health care system factors. A social work case management intervention often led to a period of stability and use of ED alternatives. Modifiable targets for intervention at the health care system and local levels include improving trust and convenience of ED alternatives, enhancing consistency of care at ED-alternative sites, and educating those at risk of frequent ED use about community alternatives.


Author(s):  
Krzysztof Landa ◽  
Karolina Skora ◽  
Iwona Zaczyk

Restrictions to health services in Poland inspired the establishment of the Watch Health Care Foundation (WHC). The fundamental disease of the system is the disproportion between the amount of the funds and the contents of the package. It causes the same “symptoms” and leads to the same pathological phenomena everywhere: queues and other forms of rationing (“guaranteed”) health benefits, corruption, and making use of privileges. The foundation uses the potential of the information society and available infrastructure (Web portal, www.watchealthcare.eu), and all activities are presented on the Website with the aim of influencing the health care system. On the basis of reports of limited access to health services, a registry of patient problems was created in the WHC Web portal, which aims to show what the biggest gaps in access to health services are – this is a way of showing the patient and health care system the needs and also one possible approach to continuous education of the health care service consumers targeted at health care system improvement.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Alejandra Rodríguez-Echeverría ◽  
Angélica María Páez-Castro

A number of factors and conditions hinder and restrict access to the health care system and its different services; these barriers to access put at risk the health of people by affecting adequate processes. Objective: To carry out a literature review on barriers to access to the health care system and visual health services in Colombia and around the world. Methodology: A literature review was carried out based on a search of the Medline, ScienceDirect, and Pubmed databases, as well as indexed public health journals and the websites of the Local Health Authority, the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, the UNESCO, and the Brien Holden Vision Institute. Results: The main barriers related to demand, both in general services and in visual health, are the lack of perception on the need for service and lack of economic resources; at the offer level, the existing policies constitute a real obstacle. Conclusions: Awareness-raising in the population, together with the implementation of health policies that grant equal access to health care services, are fundamental to prevent people from being affected, to a large extent, by barriers related to demand or offer, regardless of their location or level of income.


SLEEP ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared Streatfeild ◽  
David Hillman ◽  
Robert Adams ◽  
Scott Mitchell ◽  
Lynne Pezzullo

Abstract Study Objectives To determine cost-effectiveness of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Australia for 2017–2018 to facilitate public health decision-making. Methods Analysis was undertaken of direct per-person costs of CPAP therapy (according to 5-year care pathways), health system and other costs of OSA and its comorbidities averted by CPAP treatment (5-year adherence rate 56.7%) and incremental benefit of therapy (in terms of disability-adjusted life years [DALYs] averted) to determine cost-effectiveness of CPAP. This was expressed as the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (= dollars per DALY averted). Direct costs of CPAP were estimated from government reimbursements for services and advertised equipment costs. Costs averted were calculated from both the health care system perspective (health system costs only) and societal perspective (health system plus other financial costs including informal care, productivity losses, nonmedical accident costs, deadweight taxation and welfare losses). These estimates of costs (expressed in US dollars) and DALYs averted were based on our recent analyses of costs of untreated OSA. Results From the health care system perspective, estimated cost of CPAP therapy to treat OSA was $12 495 per DALY averted while from a societal perspective the effect was dominant (−$10 688 per DALY averted) meaning it costs more not to treat the problem than to treat it. Conclusions These estimates suggest substantial community investment in measures to more systematically identify and treat OSA is justified. Apart from potential health and well-being benefits, it is financially prudent to do so.


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