Implementation of the Blue Ocean Strategy in Healthcare: The Case of Greece

The business strategy of “blue ocean” is focused on creating demand through an impressive improvement in value for buyers at an affordable price. There are already many international references regarding the “blue oceans” in the field of health. What technological advances have also offered to the modern healthcare environment is a great variety of management and operational tools from electronic health records to telecare systems. While these technologies have different implementation backgrounds, what they all present as a competitive advantage is a promising era of efficiency and an opportunity to contain medical costs better. These technologies could obviously present a great opportunity in Greece's main organizational problem, the vast fragmentation of healthcare system. So far, many of these technologies have entered as part of the restructuring efforts, including electronic prescription systems and electronic auditing concerning drug reimbursement. What is needed, in order to fully incorporate these tools, is that systems are fully integrated.