MST-25306 Management and Innovation in the Health Sector

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Continuation courses:

MST-32806 Management and Economics of Health Care and Public Health.

Contents:

The health sector comprises a variety of providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, specialized clinics and general practitioners. The primary task of the management of these institutions is to occupy a sustainable market position, consistent with the needs of customers and distinctive with respect to, or complementary to competing providers. Herein, there is an increasing dichotomy. First there are the old-school providers; traditionally managed health care organizations that think and act primarily from a caregivers perspective. On the other hand, all sorts of (small) care initiatives emerge, such as specialized care centers who put the patient's interest first, take out the inefficiencies of the complex chain, and also embrace the latest technology in order to raise quality and reduce costs. Consequently, they achieve therefore a unique position in the healthcare market with a so-called high customer appeal. These examples of new school management are the Leitmotif in this course.
Students are first introduced to the principles of management and organization and the strategic choices that healthcare providers can make. Central to this is dealing with the complexity and dynamics of the healthcare market, which moves in the tension of many different stakeholders (government, healthcare providers, consumers, pharmaceutical, insurance, interest groups). Then, students are familiarized with developments and the why and how of innovations in the health sector. The health sector is faced with enormous challenges, including the increasing demand (e.g. due to an increase in chronic diseases), demographic changes (e.g. aging population), technological possibilities, increasing costs and decreasing budgets. Despite all of this, how healthcare is delivered has not changed much in 100 years. The pressure on healthcare providers to come up with sustainable and innovative solutions is huge. For example, the introduction of novel technologies (e-health) has changed the traditional patient-provider interactions within the clinic to more outpatient treatments and care facilities. At the same time, it has been more often than ever recognized that within health care facilities, quality of care is not just simply resulting from the treatment but ostensibly small details in the care environment can have major influences on treatment outcomes and quality of care (e.g., coloring of hospital walls influences perceptions of care). This is also sometimes referred to as the healing environment, which is also discussed.
Finally, students learn how the implementations of such change processes in the health sector are influenced by personal and contextual factors. These implementation processes will be discussed at both macro (e.g., care providers) and micro (e.g. user) level. Core aspect here is how e-health interventions can stimulate health promotion in order to prevent unnecessary healthcare entries.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- describe basic concepts and explain basic theories in management and organization;
- understand the managerial and organizational characteristics of the health sector;
- identify developments in health care that challenge traditional management approaches;
- critically analyze innovation issues in the health sector, using basic innovation management knowledge.

Activities:

The course consists of 8 lectures, 3 guest lectures, self-study, group work, a group video presentation plus feedback session and team supervision meetings. During the course, students will work in groups of 5-6 students on a video Factpod of 5 minutes, according to Hans Rosling's Factpod format (http://www.gapminder.org/factpod/). The factpod is about one or a combination of the eight mega-trends in healthcare, as presented during the second lecture. Your task is to sketch this phenomenon and make it comprehensible, substantiated by scientific literature, in order to get insight into the facts, leading to material for discussion for a possible approach on how to deal with it as healthcare management. Also students will write a short and concise script (1.000 - max 1.500 words) accompanying this 5-minutes video clip.

Examination:

- based on an individual written examination on the content of the (guest) lectures and course material, consisting of multiple choice questions (70%);
- based on a group assignment (30%), being a video Factpod and script.
The assignment and the exam must each receive a mark of at least 5.5 in order to pass the course. Missing deadlines may lead to deduction of points.

Literature:

Relevant articles will be provided. Furthermore, after each lecture a PowerPoint presentation on the subject will be posted on Blackboard.