Evolving to a new service-dominant logic for health care

Abstract

Consumers value health and a sense of well-being. The health care system cannot supply these values, but only "products" such as hospitalization, ambulatory care, medications, procedures, and preventative care. These components of health care represent neither the value within the system nor the desired final output. Nonetheless, the health care system has focused inordinately on the products, to the point of suggesting that they have intrinsic value. We link this situation to the concept of goods-dominant logic, which has dominated business and managerial thinking since the Industrial Revolution. We then explain why and how moving to service-dominant logic is essential for consumers and providers to better cocreate value from products which are not intrinsically valuable. The challenge of cocreating value is confounded by information asymmetry, and by the myriad factors in the health care ecosystem that contribute to or detract from health and well-being. A new lexicon, emanating from service-dominant logic, is suggested to facilitate the move away from a goods-dominant mindset.