Success Factors within Business Models for Physical Therapy Provided by Primary Health Care Businesses; Systematic Review with Critical Interpretative Synthesis.

Abstract

Background - Physical therapist business models are under pressure in several countries like the UK and The Netherlands as a result of changing health care market forces. Physical therapists feel the need to adjust their own business’ business model. But they don’t know exactly how it should be adjusted and we are given the impression that information about this is not readily available.Study identification and findings - The aim of this systematic review is to describe success factors within business models for primary health care businesses’ physical therapy. Business models act on a strategic level in this review and can be the basis for more detailed business process models and business cases. Publications were retrieved through a systematic search in medical and economic databases. Two different search strings were developed for this purpose. The search yielded 2253 publications, which were screened by title and abstract. A selection of the results was made via: 1. Generalisable information related to business models, 2. Information related to business models in health care, 3. Success factors in business, 4. Quality of health care related to business models. This led to a selection of 45 relevant full text publications. Relevant results were organised into two business model component frameworks with the use of a critical interpretative synthesis.Conclusions - The findings in this review are promising for further research and application within business models for primary health care businesses’ physical therapy. We consider success factors within business model components: Customer segments, Value propositions, Customer relationships, Key resources, Key partners, Cost structure, Positioning, Product and service logic, Marketing and sales logic and Profit formula. We consider no success factors within business model components: Channels, Revenue streams, Key activities. Not only isolated business model components need to be considered here, but an integration of more than one component, resulting in a theory for the business. Research on business model definition and on indices for success factors within business models for primary health care businesses’ physical therapy is needed.