Improving Service Provision - The Health Care Services' Perspective

How to improve service provision in the health care sector is a question of high economic and social relevance, as the health service industry represents a major part of developed nations’ economy and health care is a service virtually everyone is touched by in their life. The topic embraces different perspectives or levers, including the (re)organization of service provision, a stronger focus on the patient in the service delivery process, and the crucial role of employees in health service provision. We invited a group of well-renown scholars from different academic fields to share with us personal observations, empirical evidence, and interpretations of how to improve service provision in health care in the form of individual commentaries that cover the different perspectives. The resulting special research article includes motivations on why changes in the health care sector make service management research (smr) more relevant, it depicts implications (of smr) for health care organizations, and it outlines suggestions for future research. This article is designed to offer avenues for further service research on different perspectives for the improvement and professionalization of health care – a discipline in which joint efforts of service and health care researchers can have great societal impact.