Abstract
Extensive literature suggests that a solution to the current problems of healthcare sustainability is the active involvement of patients in health management through the empowerment of their abilities. Latest marketing frameworks suggest that patients are important resources for co-creating health value together with operators. This research aims to analyze the effects of patient empowerment on patients’ value co-creation behaviors. An empirical survey was conducted on 250 patients with chronic diseases in Italy. The results, analyzed using the structural equation modeling, showed that their empowerment enhanced value co-creation behaviors. Patients apply their health competencies and resources in their co-creation of health service with operators. It is, therefore, important to empower patients in their transformation from passive to active stakeholders, working with providers for the most optimal health outcomes. This research provides practitioners with suggestions for patient involvement which utilizes their knowledge, capabilities and responsibility to improving healthcare services.
Highlights
Healthcare sustainability refers to the capacity of healthcare systems to ensure the long-term health and well-being of communities [1]
In several countries, by factors such as aging populations [2], increases in multiple-chronic diseases [3], scarcity of financial resources [4] and an increasing distrust and dissatisfaction by citizens. These challenges require the allocation of enormous financial resources to the prevention, assistance, care, research and technologies that are necessary to ensure the continued health of the population
The patient empowerment construct is explained by the dimensions health literacy (HL), patient participation (PP), patient control (PC), communication with healthcare professionals (CHP); the value co-creation construct is explained by the dimensions patient participation behavior (PPB), patient citizenship behavior (PCB)
Summary
Healthcare sustainability refers to the capacity of healthcare systems to ensure the long-term health and well-being of communities [1] It is threatened, in several countries, by factors such as aging populations [2], increases in multiple-chronic diseases [3], scarcity of financial resources [4] and an increasing distrust and dissatisfaction by citizens. After the economic and financial crisis of 2008, many countries—especially within the European community—have been affected by austerity policies and public spending cuts, shifting the focus from the ethical-value dimension [5] and humanization of the service [1] to the rationalization of resources and technical/economic performance [1,6] In view of these problems, new strategic and organizational guidelines are required to ensure the sustainability of healthcare. In the past, scholars and professionals have focused on healthcare organizations’ improvements in effectiveness and efficiency [7,8,9,10,11], in recent years the importance of the patient’s active role as a fundamental resource for healthcare sustainability has been re-evaluated [12,13,14]
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