Question

Post responses to this provocative statement. Healthcare should be viewed as any other service where the utility of the service is equal to the outcome divided by the cost. Basically......you get what you pay for... Do you agree?

Answer 1

In my opinion, I completely disagree with the statement that healthcare service can be compared to any other service industry.

Service sectors such as banking, insurance, hotel, etc. provide appropriate quality of work to their customers depending on their cost. For example, a five-star-hotel would cost you much more than that of a three-star hotel; however, the type of service provided to the customers by them is quite significant.

The health sector is an entirely different industry because every healthcare organization whether it is a nursing home or a clinic or a hospital must provide holistic care to their patients. That is they understand their patients’ problems and needs from their physical, psychological, social and economic point of view for diagnosis of diseases and their treatment. This requires compassionate care where other service sectors cannot provide.

Healthcare industry providing tender-loving care, high-quality and evidence-based care to patients are not normal services which can be measured in terms of cost. To illustrate, we cannot measure the cost of service a healthcare assistant providing bedpan for a stroke patient who has an urgent bowel movement or a doctor who identifies the disease process much earlier and provides appropriate treatment.

In conclusion, health service industry is a unique sector providing care and support for those in need and therefore it can neither be compared to any other service industry not measured in terms of cost of service.