Arranging competitive benefits in a health care organization is a crucial constituent of the organization’s success. Competitive advantage makes a facility establish unique features that the rivals cannot easily copy (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013). Determining these distinctive elements presupposes a switch of the center of attention to reflective analysis and the internal environment. The best approach to assessing the ways in which facilities create value is the “organizational value chain” (Ginter et al., 2013).
Value-Based Care in a Health Care Facility
Value is interpreted as the degree of satisfaction obtained by patients in relation to the amount of money they spent on some health care service (Ginter et al., 2013). Thus, the value does not price alone. Rather, it is the connection between price and satisfaction. A value chain for a health care organization incorporates service delivery activities and support activities (Ginter et al., 2013). Service delivery measures are divided into pre-service, point-of-service, and after-service procedures. Support activities include organizational culture, structure, and strategic resources. The most important elements of service delivery activities are market research, determining the health care customers, suggested services, and pricing (Ginter et al., 2013). Although organizational culture and structure belong to support activities, they are crucial for sustaining a supportive atmosphere for the customers. Establishing a value chain makes a health care organization more competitive and provides it with a better place in the market.
Suggestions for Adding Value in Primary Care
To add value in primary care (PC) practice, it is necessary to come up with an integrated strategy for the complete range of PC operations (Porter, Pabo, & Lee, 2013). Porter et al. (2013) suggest a framework for adding value in PC which consists of five constituents:
- PC needs to be arranged around groups of patients who have common needs;
- Team-based duties should be performed for every patient group throughout its complete care period;
- Effects and costs for every patient need to be estimated by groups as a conventional component of care;
- Payment needs to be customized to accumulate reimbursement for every group and compensate for the advancement of value;
- Teams working with PC patient groups need to be consolidated with the appropriate specialty providers (Porter et al., 2013).
For the successful implementation of this framework, it is necessary to outline the precise aims of it. In our case, the purpose is to enhance value for the customers (Porter et al., 2013). Value assessment is required to show the influence of modernizations and validate supplementary investments.
Another way of adding value to PC is the enhancement of electronic health records (EHRs) (Sinsky, Beasley, Simmons, & Baron, 2014). Currently, EHRs mostly serve as the doctors’ facilitators. Improvement of EHR will add value to the patients rather than merely concentrate on visits and payments (Sinsky et al., 2014). Ideally, EHRs should serve as communication tools for physicians and patients in PC settings.
Conclusion
Competitive advantage brings more opportunities for health care facilities’ success. One of the core elements of creating competitiveness is organizing value-based care in organizations. Adding value aims at improving the services performed by the health care workers and increases the probability of customers’ preference when choosing a facility. To add value in primary care, it is necessary to enhance the electronic health records and arrange care in groups of patients with similar needs.
References
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2013). Strategic management of health care organizations (7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Porter, M. E., Pabo., E. A., & Lee, T. H. (2013). Redesigning primary care: a strategic vision to improve value by organizing around patients’ needs. Health Affairs, 32(3), 516-525.
Sinsky, C. A., Beasley, J. W., Simmons, G. E., & Baron, R. J. (2014). Electronic health records: design, implementation, and policy for higher-value primary care. Annals of Internal Medicine, 160(10), 727-728.