OC Reilly Blog: It’s All About Value
By George Vunovic, Vice President of Technology Solutions, OC Reilly Inc.
(Sept. 28, 2015)–Ads on radio and TV, blaring “Lowest Price Guaranteed” or “Nobody Sells for Less” may have some appeal on first blush. But, as we all know, goods and services purchased at bargain-basement prices do not always deliver.
On the other hand, high quality at a competitive cost represents value – and this, in the end, is what most people are looking for. Even hospital patients.
In the May 2015 issue of Healthcare Financial Management magazine, a story, “The Value Proposition In Action,” lays out the case for this statement. “The days of competing on price alone are over,” the article reads. “Numerous healthcare stakeholders are demanding that organizations demonstrate superior quality and safety in addition to cost-effectiveness…a recent study finds that consumers will choose hospitals rated as safer 97 percent of the time, regardless of cost.”
The article quotes Wendy Lynch, co-author of the cited study, as saying, “These results indicate that consumers are well-equipped to assess the trade-offs of price and safety. There has been some indication that, in the absence of safety information, the public equates a higher price with better care. This study tells us that with the right information, consumers make rational choices.”
It all comes down to value – and how patients perceive it regarding their health care choices. Assuming that patients look for quality and safety first, if a health care system can provide these at the same time its efficiency improves, that system will win.
As we have stated many times on this blog, high quality patient care and lower operating costs are not mutually exclusive. In this modern competitive environment across the health care spectrum, they can’t be.
Effective supply chain management and medical equipment management gives health care systems a leg up on achieving cost-efficiencies while maintaining quality of care. That is the essence of value – a consideration that promises to only increase in importance among the hospital patient population.
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