TRENDS IN HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT

Ms. V.Vidhya, Asst Professor, Department of MBA, Sankara College of Science and Commerce

In today’s environment only trend is to change accordingly to the situation. Earlier day’s hospital had a different methodology and now the trend of the functioning of the hospital has changed due to the changes in economy, Prior only minimum hospitals like Government and one or two private players were there to support the healthcare requirement of the public. But now we can find many private players foraying into the existing healthcare market. So, the change is inevitable. To hold the markets players are compelled to adopt new strategies in the healthcare management.

Investment in Technology

Investing in the new technology by the hospital management is the new strategy to attract the patients. For eg., RFID technology, face to face recognition AI, EMR, AR (Augmented Reality) to capture images, VR (Virtual Reality) for assessing the pain  management, Robotic surgery, 3D printing for prosthetics and so on.

Patient Relations Management

Recent years the hospital Management is focussing on PRM to establish a good customer / patient base. The PR department is merging with the Marketing department to increase the customer satisfaction. For e.g., introduction of patient portal, follow up calls of patient post-surgery, for even review patients, formation of patient groups are some of the recent steps taken by the hospital management to pace with the line of changing trend.

Concept of Electronic -ICU

Due to insufficient access to the critical care facilities in rural areas big hospitals are trying to set up eICU. Electronic Intensive Care Unit is the support center that provides care to patients in multiple hospitals. Currently Fortis and Apollo hospitals had set up this technology for the benefit of the rural patients.

Social medial marketing

In this Pandemic situation the social media marketing has gained importance in advertising their services. Many hospitals have understood the real sense of marketing their services like Facebook, twitter. Linked in etc., the hospitals have started their own links in these social medias by which advertising their services has become an added advantage.

Healthcare Quality and Accreditation

Quality is a mantra for a good hospital. We know about NABH, ISO, NABL, JCI accreditation boards that provide certificate for the hospital’s quality care. Now the hospitals are trying to acquire international accreditation to improve medical tourism. SOP formation, mock audits, quality management team, expert consultation, streamlining the processes in departments, adoption of lean six sigma are the steps taken by the hospital management .

Day care models

With technology in place there is no need for the patient to stay longer in the hospital for surgeries. Non-invasive procedures do not require longer stay in the hospital bed. Hospital infrastructure has become decentralized in recent years. Surgeries like hole surgery, pain management and post-operative care has facilitated hospitals to adopt a day care surgery models.

To conclude hospital management today should keep them updated with the changing trends in order to line up with the changing current healthcare environment.