A New Business Model in Health Care Between Public and Private: Low Cost High Value Healthcare

The aim of the paper is analyzing the phenomenon of low cost high value in healthcare, understanding its organizational paradigm, the motivations, the services offered and placement. Over the past years, we have questioned the possibility of creating new models of health care organization, able to respond to the demand for health care with new management tools to develop, implement and spread both the public and private healthcare system. The model focused on public control of health over the years has always been more trouble in responding to the demand for health care in increasingly complex social contexts. There is a need to innovate with new management tools to be disseminated both the public health and the private sector. The ways to contain health care expenditure, normally involve a decrease in the quality of services. Some of the measures are commonly adopted patient co-pay schemes, or practicing de-facto rationing, either by limiting the number of actual treatments provided in combination with long waiting lists, or carrying out consumer health campaigns focused on prevention, all with the aim of limiting the demand for public health services. The low cost high value in health care can be an answer at this stage of welfare change. In the research the case study method is used and it’s focused on two low cost high value medical centers: Centro Medico Santagostino and OdontoSalute, located in Northern Italy. The “cross-case analysis” is used to identify the specific features of the low cost high value business model and the contribution to the health system. This study demonstrated that the low cost high value business model in health care system is a solution to the welfare change. The need of more systematic studies in this area is highlighted.