Value Proposition in Patient Care
Introduction
Paradise Hospital, Inc is a for-profit healthcare institution. The administration of the hospital has never improved the hospital’s service value since the hospital commenced its operations in 1995. In addition to that, the investors are not aware of the value proposition strategies that are employed by hospitals America. This paper provides a value proposition for Paradise Hospital, Inc and it focuses on the value-added services.
Value-added services in the patient care services refer to the “noncore” additional services that are used to add value to the core services at the hospital. The value-added services provide benefits that culminate in a satisfying and wholesome experience for the hospital staff and the patients. Examples of value-added services include adequate support to the patients, payment assistance to the patients, good treatment of the patients, simplicity in the payment procedure, a clean environment, spiritual architecture, adequate foods, and good birthing environments
It is crucial for hospitals to offer value added services to patients because they make the core services attractive. Arguably, the value added services offer new ways of creating sustainable and significant competitive advantages for a hospital. They help in retaining the existing clientele by enriching the experiences, and provide additional income to the hospital. Moreover, the value-added services increase the value proposition of a hospital and they are the forefront of the hospitals' sales strategy. It is imperative to note that the services are instrumental in the growth of the hospitals. To illustrate, efficient customer service at the hospital transforms the dreaded encounters in the hospitals into pleasant and memorable experiences (Curfman, Morrissey & Drazen, 2013).
The System for improving the hospital’s service value
The system for identifying the key functional areas which can be used to improve the service value of a hospital should integrate both the services that stand alone from the operational perspective and those that do not stand alone (Osterwalder, Pigneur, Bernarda, & Smith, 2015). For example excellent customer service and spiritual architecture are standalone service whereas the favorable birthing suites are not stand alone services.
There are various methods that can be used to acquire information that can be used in identifying the specified functional areas. First and foremost, marketing research enables a hospital to determine the target customers, and customers’ habits and this are instrumental in the determination of value added services. Another method that can be used is brainstorming. Brainstorming enables the hospital staff to come up with ideas on how to enhance the core services at the hospital and increases the creativity and innovation of the hospital staff. Besides, surveys can help a hospital to introduce relevant value added services and the respondents in such surveys should be patients because they are the ones that can offer sufficient information about their wants and needs. Markedly, the feedbacks from the patient surveys help hospitals to improve on their areas of weakness (Henshall & Schuller, 2013).
Areas that Paradise Hospital can add value
There four specific areas that the administration at Paradise Hospital can add values, and they include dietary services, friendly ICU (Intensive Care Units), Birthing Suites and spiritual architecture. Regarding dietary services, Paradise hospital should hire dieticians to offer varied diets to the patients. For example, they can provide liquid, gluten-free, semi-solid, high/low protein and high/low-calorie diets depending on the needs of every patient. Markedly, the provision of the relevant dietary patients plays an instrumental role in the recovery of the patients (Anand & Fosso Wamba, 2013).
Concerning the friendly ICUs, Paradise hospital should make the ICU environment moribund and comfortable. The walls and linen used in the ICU should have floral patterns and cheerful pastel colors to create the feelings of well-being and to liven the patients. A friendly ICU offers a therapeutic benefit. In addition to that, the windows at the ICU should be large; they should have natural light and should be open to promote air circulation (Anand & Fosso Wamba, 2013).
Furthermore, the Birthing Suites at Paradise hospital should be equipped with the required medical equipment to make labor pleasurable and less laborious. The delivery process should be conducted with dignity and should guarantee privacy to every mother. All in all, the birthing suits should be comfortable and should minimize the risks of pregnancy complications. Regarding spiritual architecture, Paradise hospital should introduce architectural inputs to offer reassuring and warm ambience to the patients. The architectural inputs should align with the religious and traditional beliefs of the patients. For example, the hospital can introduce the images of Jesus on the walls of its wards (Henshall & Schuller, 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are innumerable value-added services that can be used to add value to the services provided at Paradise Hospital. The services include friendly ICUs, birthing suites, spiritual architecture and dietary services. Owing to the competition in the contemporary healthcare industry, healthcare service providers create sustainable and significant competitive advantages to the hospitals. The value-added services increase the value proposition of a hospital and increase revenues as well. The growth of most of the hospitals is attributed to the value added services because they enable the hospitals to offer enriching experiences to the hospitals. Finally, Paradise Hospital can improve the satisfaction of its patients by introducing the value-added services.
References
Anand, A., & Fosso Wamba, S. (2013). Business value of RFID-enabled healthcare transformation projects. Business Process Management Journal, 19(1), 111-145.
Curfman, G. D., Morrissey, S., & Drazen, J. M. (2013). High-value health care—a sustainable proposition. New England Journal of Medicine,369(12), 1163-1164.
Henshall, C., & Schuller, T. (2013). Health technology assessment, value-based decision making, and innovation. International journal of technology assessment in health care, 29(04), 353-359.
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., & Smith, A. (2015). Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want. John Wiley & Sons.
