Caring More by Doing Less? An Enquiry About the Impacts of Outsourcing on Patient Care

Abstract

This study seeks to understand the potential impact of outsourcing on healthcare processes. By referring to a wider scope of industries and sectors, as they have been the experimental fields of most of the studies on outsourcing, we highlight the pros and cons of the externalization of activities related to patient care. Our purpose is to show and contextualize the (yet) ambiguous effects of relying on external partners in delivering services related to the health of patients. We argue that the seek for efficiency might sometimes hinder the global outcome of care; further we state that given the peculiar nature of the healthcare, outsourcing needs to be used within a wider strategic analysis of the activities. This study starts with a review of the literature on outsourcing strategies applied to healthcare sector and it also proposes an analytical model for decision-making. The main conclusion is that healthcare organizations should set up proper mechanisms for the governance of the overall transactions related to outsourcing in order to extend the span of control over the external providers as long as the effectiveness and the efficacy of the general outcome is not compromised. Both private and public health providers could benefit from a more reliable model for deciding on the span of their activities that can be outsourced.

May Parents Inherit From Heirs? Towards an Understanding of the Parent-Spun-Off Relationship

“…Previous studies have analyzed the healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry under a number of different perspectives, such as innovation propensity and firm profitability (Roberts, 2001;Lee et al, 2008), inter-organizational collaboration and learning effects (Powell et al, 1996;2005;D'Alise et al, 2010;Brunetta et al, 2012), vertical integration and collaborative agreements (Pisano, 1990;1991, Suresh andAlli, 2012), outsourcing Brunetta et al, 2014;Marchegiani et al, 2013;Brunetta and Marchegiani, 2009), alliance formation (Baum et al, 2000) and network perspectives (Powell et al, 1996;2005;Gulati and Singh, 1996). Firms in this industry are "multivocal" and commonly perform different activities with a diverse set of partners (Powell et al, 2005).…”

Innovative Business Models in the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Case on Exploiting Value Networks to Stay Competitive

“…Consequently, several dedicated productive structuresfor example patent-protected drugs -are losing their sheen as branded drugs lose their patent exclusivity and face increasing competition from generics. So far, literature has widely analysed the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry under a number of different perspectives, such as the resource-based view [1][2], the knowledge-based view [3][4][5], strategic groups formation [6][7][8], innovation propensity and firm profitability (recent studies have empirically tested the influence of a group of innovation related variables on company performance, with findings suggesting a positive relationship between the two) [9][10][11][12], inter-organizational collaboration and learning effects [13][14][15][16], vertical integration and collaborative agreements [3][4], outsourcing [17][18][19], alliance formation [20] and network perspectives [13][14][15]21]. The pharmaceutical industry has, indeed, seen a deep transformation in recent years; in terms of the geographical concentration of the R&D and commercial activities, increased regulatory controls and technological complexity and expanding disease targets and cost containment policies.…”

Paving the Way for Warehouse Centralization in Healthcare: A Preliminary Assessment Approach

“…In particular, there are few studies that focus on all the significant system elements and relationships between them (Bhakoo et al, 2012;Rich and Piercy, 2013). Among the relevant literature, a number of works (Nicholson et al, 2004;Pan and Pokharel, 2007) have addressed the benefits and limitations of logistics outsourcing in HC organizations as a way of achieving efficiency by focusing internal resources on core processes (Brunetta et al, 2014). Another topic well debated in literature is inventory management due to its relevance in HC logistics dealing hospitals with large amounts of a great variety of products and carrying inventory costs ranging from 10 to 18% of the net revenue (De Vries, 2011).…”