Service Logic in my industry

Service Logic in My Industry,

I work in the healthcare industry - specifically in an acute care hospital, where I do surgical nursing.
My industry, as well as the majority of the healthcare area, clearly are pre-dominantly service industries. Traditionally, the healthcare field has been dominated by production logic - focusing mainly on metrics such as patient counts, room counts, room turn around, prodecure time and cost, and the vast underlying equipment and materials supply chain needed to support hospitals.

In recent years, many leading hospitals, having established a similar level of quality and cost, now are instead turning towards service logic to manage their business. Different hospitals and healthcare systems now are working to figure out what is their target patient population, and how does this relate with their unique assets and skills. Gone are the days when each hospital could "do everything". Instead, many leading hospitals work to become specialized in certain areas of medicine, or specifically targeting certain patient groups. When well executed such approach to focus allows an ability to achieve increased excellence, and create streamlined business processes - ultimately driving increased healthcare quality and enhanced relative cost position.

One major challenge in this development - is that consumers (patients) still lack much of the required tools and information to do an informed choice when selecting between different healthcare service providers. Furthermore, most patients remain relatively insulated from the actual cost level of healthcare service delivery - since the majority of cost usually is covered by insurers. Therefore, the first step towards driving increased service logic and efficiency is fueled by major insurers and govermental agencies - which now increasingly evaluate overall quality and cost between different healthcare providers, and then drive resource allocation to more capable providers.

JF