Healthcare Firms Research Articles

Impact of intellectual capital on financial competitiveness in context of listed Indian healthcare enterprises

Purpose This study aims to determine impact of Intellectual Capital (IC) and its constituents in impacting Financial Competitiveness (FC) of Standard & Poor’s Bombay Stock Exchange Healthcare index constituents for years 2013–2023. Design/methodology/approach This research work used Modified Value-Added Intellectual Coefficients model to gauge IC, whilst an index has been used to apprehend alterations in FC of enterprises. Generalised method of moments (GMM) model was used to determine association between IC and FC of these enterprises. Findings Results demonstrated that IC in entirety had a notable role in FC of healthcare firms. Results showed that human and relational capital had an affirmative role, while structural capital, capital employed and innovation capital had adverse roles in competitiveness. Research limitations/implications This study provides important contributions to academicians, researchers, management, directors and policymakers by equipping them for preparing a roadmap for future performances. Outcomes imply that IC and its segments must be efficaciously managed in the highly knowledge intensive and intricately interconnected healthcare sector, to establish greater competitive acumen thereby rendering improved and superior results. Originality/value This work focusses in lesser researched Indian healthcare sector, scrutinising association between IC efficiency and FC for years 2013–2023.

Public Healthcare Spending, Business Dynamism, and Wage Inequality: Evidence from Developed and Developing Economies

AbstractThis paper examines the effects of public healthcare spending on wage inequality and social welfare in an economy with rural and urban regions. The objectives are twofold. First, we introduce a simple theoretical framework that captures the link between public healthcare spending and firms' output choice and subsequent wage provisions. We demonstrate that in the short run, a rise in public healthcare services can increase urban output and lower urban unemployment and raise both skilled and unskilled wage rates. In the long run, firm entry produces a business‐dynamism effect that enhances the rate of return on capital, reduces the unskilled wage rate and intensifies wage inequality. Second, we empirically test our theoretical predictions using data from 112 economies in the period 2006–2018. We find evidence supporting our theoretical findings concerning the effects of public healthcare on wage outcomes, especially in the long run. Results are highly consistent across the two groups: advanced economies (mainly OECD/European economies), and emerging and developing economies based on alternative measures for wage inequality, including the GINI coefficient and top income share. The paper provides useful information for the public healthcare policy.

The Relation between ESG Performance and Financial Performance: Evidence from Healthcare Firms

The Relation between ESG Performance and Financial Performance: Evidence from Healthcare Firms

Metaverse adoption as a cornerstone for sustainable healthcare firms in the industry 5.0 epoch

PurposeThis research looks into the revolutionary potential of Industry 5.0, healthcare, sustainability and the metaverse, with a focus on the transformation of healthcare firms through cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT). The study emphasizes the significance of sustainability, human-machine collaboration and Industry 5.0 in the development of a technologically advanced, inclusive and immersive healthcare system.Design/methodology/approachThe study surveyed 354 medical professionals and used structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate healthcare sustainability, Industry 5.0 and the metaverse, emphasizing the integration of modern technology while maintaining ethical issues.FindingsThe findings highlight Industry 5.0’s and the metaverse’s transformational potential in healthcare firms. The study finds that human centricity (HC) has only a minor direct impact on healthcare sustainability, whereas intelligent automation (IA) and innovation (INN) play important roles that are regulated by external factors.Practical implicationsUtilizing IA inside healthcare organizations can result in significant industrial advancements. However, these organizations must recognize the importance of moderating factors and attempt to find a balance between INN and thesev restraints.Originality/valueThis study makes a substantial contribution to the field by investigating the potential of Industry 5.0, healthcare, sustainability and the metaverse. It discusses how these advances can transform healthcare firms, with an emphasis on patient-centered treatment, environmental sustainability and data ethics. The study emphasizes the importance of having a thorough awareness of these trends and their implications for healthcare practices.

COVID-19 IMPACT ON DEBT CHOICES OF HEALTHCARE COMPANIES: EVIDENCE FROM INDONESIA

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has had a huge global impact since its emergence in December 2019. This research explores the various impacts of the pandemic on the Indonesian economy, with a particular focus on the healthcare sector from 2019 to 2022. This research aims to determine the impact of COVID-19 on debt choices in the health sector listed on the IDX. The research timeline encompasses the years 2019 through 2022, designating the period from 2019 to 2021 as the active COVID-19 timeframe, with 2022 denoted as a post-COVID-19 phase. Debt choice is represented by the debt-to-equity ratio (DER). Then, this research uses panel data, which is secondary data. This research uses Repeated Measure ANCOVA, which is regressed using the STATA 14.2 application. This research concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic affects the debt choices of healthcare companies. The findings support the idea that the pandemic has a marked impact on the debt choices of healthcare firms in Indonesia, emphasizing the need for adaptability in financial strategies during times of significant global disruption.

Impact of Capital Structure on Financial Performance of Firms in the Nigerian Health Care Sector

This study aims to explore how the capital structure affects the financial performance of healthcare companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from 2012 to 2021. Capital structure which considers how a company combine its mix of equity and debt in financing its business is important to its overall operations and growth. To conduct this research, eight healthcare firms listed on the NSE were deliberately chosen. The study examined the financial data of various firms, through their annual reports. The data included short-term and long-term debts, equity (the value of a company's shares), return on equity, and size. The study used correlation and regression for its analysis. The results showed that short-term debt, long-term debt, and equity had a negative but significant relationship with return on equity. However, the size of the company had a positive and significant relationship with return on equity. Based on the findings, the study recommends that healthcare firms should consider using long-term debts to increase the time to repay the borrowed capital and generate more profit.

The Role of Cloud Integration in Healthcare Sector: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract: Cloud computing has become a game-changing technology that will have a significant impact on many other industries, including healthcare. This research paper provides a thorough analysis of cloud computing's role in the healthcare industry, emphasizing its uses, advantages, difficulties, and potential. Healthcare firms may improve patient care, streamline operations, and increase overall efficiency by utilizing the scalability, flexibility, and affordability of cloud-based solutions. Cloud computing adoption in the healthcare industry is not without its difficulties, though, as security, privacy, and regulatory issues are major obstacles. It highlights the enormous potential of cloud computing to alter the delivery of healthcare services by examining these issues and offering solutions

Strategic Assessment of Intricacies in Healthcare Cyber Security: Analyzing Distinctive Challenges, Evaluating Their Ramifications on Healthcare Delivery, and Proposing Advanced Mitigation Strategies

Healthcare firms have access to highly sensitive and valuable data, such as patient health records and payment card information. They are also becoming more reliant on Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices to provide treatment, and assaults on this networked equipment can result in data breaches or disruptions to crucial care of patients. Hence there is need to critically assess the intricacies in healthcare cyber security by analyzing the unique challenges facing healthcare sector, their impact on healthcare delivery and suggest some effective cyber security measures to mitigate the identified Cyber security challenges facing health care sector. The research employs a quantitative method by using the descriptive and survey approach through the use of questionnaires to elicit and gather relevant information regarding the Unique Cyber security Challenges in the Healthcare Industry. The descriptive method was used to achieve the objectives of the study while the survey technique was used to get qualitative information from respondents about effect of those cyber security challenges in the health care industry. The target sample size used for this study was 1300. However, only 980 responses were recovered and used for the analysis. Future research work suggested that strong encryption procedures can be developed and implemented for healthcare security, sophisticated anomaly detection tools can be incorporated, and cooperative frameworks for information exchange across the healthcare ecosystem could be established. Also the suggested effective measures to mitigate cyber security challenges in healthcare sector can be implemented in order to secure the patient sensitive and valuable data.

Customer search strategies of entrepreneurial telehealth firms – how effective is effectuation?

PurposeThe demand for healthcare innovation is increasing, and not much is known about how entrepreneurial firms search for and sell to customers in the highly regulated and complex healthcare market. Drawing on effectuation perspectives, we explore how entrepreneurial digital healthcare firms with disruptive innovations search for early customers in the healthcare sector.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a qualitative, longitudinal multiple-case design of four entrepreneurial Nordic telehealth firms. In-depth interviews were conducted with founders and senior managers over a period of 27 months.FindingsWe find that when customer buying conditions are highly flexible, case firms use effectual logic to generate customer demand for disruptive innovations. However, under constrained buying conditions firms adopt a more causal approach to customer search.Practical implicationsManagers need to gain a deep understanding of target buying environments when searching for customers. In healthcare sector markets, the degree of flexibility customers have over buying can constrain them from engaging in demand co-creation. In particular, healthcare customer access to funding streams can be a key determinant of customer flexibility.Originality/valueWe contribute to effectuation literature by illustrating how customer buying conditions influence decision-making logics of entrepreneurial firms searching for customers in the healthcare sector. We contribute to entrepreneurial resource search literature by illustrating how entrepreneurial firms search for customers beyond their networks in the institutionally complex healthcare sector.

Cash Flow Ratios and Business Failure of Healthcare Firms in Nigeria

The study examined cash flow ratios as predictors of business failure of healthcare firms in Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to ascertain the effect of operating cash flow ratio, cash flow to debt ratio, and price to cash flow ratio on Altman’s zeta score of healthcare firms in Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post-facto research design, covering a period of 10 years (from 2013 to 2022). Secondary data used for the study were extracted from annual reports and accounts of selected healthcare firms listed on the Nigeria Exchange Group (NGX) from 2013 to 2022. Multiple regression technique was used to test the hypotheses. The result of the test of hypotheses revealed that the operating cash flow ratio has a statistically non-significant negative effect on the Altman z-score of healthcare firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.3397). The finding also indicates that the cash flow to debt ratio has a statistically non-significant negative effect on the Altman z-score of healthcare firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.2937). Lastly, the finding reveals that the price to cash flow ratio has a non-significant positive effect on the Altman z-score of healthcare firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.5281). The policy implications of these findings suggest that when assessing the financial health and bankruptcy risk of healthcare firms in Nigeria, policymakers and regulators should consider factors beyond cash flow ratios. It was recommended therefore that healthcare firms in Nigeria should diversify their sources of cash flow beyond operating cash flow to improve financial stability and mitigate bankruptcy risk. Healthcare firms should have a careful evaluation of debt management practices is necessary to maintain a healthy balance between cash flow generation and debt obligations in healthcare firms. Market sentiment reflected in the price to cash flow ratio should not be relied upon as the sole indicator of financial stability. Healthcare firms should prioritize fundamental financial and operational indicators to assess their financial health and mitigate bankruptcy risk.

Opportunities Presented by COVID-19 for Healthcare Green Supply Chain Management and Sustainability Performance: The Moderating Effect of Social Media Usage

This research explores the opportunities presented by COVID-19 for green supply chains' environmental practices and ecological sustainability performances in the healthcare sector. This study investigates the connections between uncertainty-fear of COVID-19, healthcare green supply chain management (GSCM), and the three pillars of a firm's sustainability performance (environmental, economic, and social). Moreover, this study examines the moderating role of social media usage (SMU) on the effect of uncertainty-fear of COVID-19 on healthcare-GSCM. When conducting the empirical part, this study uses the partial least squares structural equation modeling method based on a sample of 483 healthcare managers. The findings prove that the uncertainty-fear of COVID-19 has a beneficial impact on healthcare-GSCM. Besides, SMU moderates the relationship between uncertainty-fear of COVID-19 and healthcare-GSCM, indicating the importance of SMU in gathering information for the healthcare sector during COVID-19. Likewise, when interacting with healthcare firms' sustainability performances, healthcare-GSCM positively impacts environmental and social performances, though it has a negligible impact on economic performance. This study adds to the “social cognitive theory” by introducing the concept of uncertainty-fear of COVID-19. Furthermore, this research adds to the “resource-based view theory” and the “knowledge-based view theory” by exploring the SMU's role during the outbreak.

A study and analysis on the role of legal accounting in fraud detection and prevention

Forensic accountants are CPAs that look for evidence of crimes and commonly work for insurance companies, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies. Forensic accountants analyze financial records and accounts that may be used as legal evidence and often testify in court cases as expert witnesses. Forensic accounting is a specialized area of accounting and a challenging one. A forensic accountant investigates incidents of fraud, bribery, money laundering and embezzlement by analyzing financial records and transactions, tracing assets, and more. This study on forensic accounting services and fraud prevention was empirically investigated. The study is vital as it portrays the extent to which the application of forensic accounting services influence the incidence of fraud in health care firms in Nigeria. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the investigation and the statistical test of parameter estimates was conducted using Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance. The study anchored on the White Collar Crime Theory adopted a Survey Design Approach. Hence, data were collected using questionnaire survey administered to the relevant accounting sections of health care firms in Nigeria. The empirical analysis of the study indicates that the application of forensic accounting service has reduced the incidence of frauds and has also led to fraud prevention at 1% significant level. Thus, the study concludes that the application of forensic accounting services prevents fraud in health care firms in Nigeria. In lieu of this, the study recommended that adequate internal control system should also be established to have checks and balances among the staff to reduce fraud to its nearest minimum, thereby, restoring confidence to potential and prospective investors. Also, since staff of health care firms in Nigeria are strategic in prevention of fraud, their remunerations and welfare should be made a priority and taken serious. Also, training and re-training of these staff would encourage them to detect early warning signals for fraud activities in the company.

Integrating Adam Optimizer to Enhance Efficiency of Transfer Learning Model for Diagnosing Cancers

Despite huge advancements in medical fields, diseases like cancer continue to plague people since we are still prone to them. The main purpose is to design a critical analysis of cancers, including breast, pancreatic, colon, skin, lung, and other cancers from the year 1990 to 2019, to identify some of the rising factors of both lung and colon cancers that cause unnecessary deaths. Thus, early detection on the other hand greatly improves the chances of survival rates in humans. At that place, Transfer Learning (TL) techniques have made significant improvements these days.
 Material and Methods: We herein implemented the exploratory data analysis (EDA) technique to analyze 29 types of cancer deaths worldwide since 1990th century. Between them, we have emphasized lung cancer (LC) and colon cancers (CC) for our study and taken 25,000 histopathology image data from the publicly available Kaggle repository. Further, we proposed a novel methodology using the EfficientNetB7 model defining each step to classify five types of lung and colon tissues (two benign and three malignant) from the histopathological images. Although, an algorithm has been designed that clearly describes the workflow of our proposed method. This experiment has been done through input_shape=(X, Y, 3) on the ‘ImageNet’ dataset, Adam optimizer, and accuracy metrics using Python 3.8.8 software on Jupyter 6.4.3 environment.
 Results: We evaluated the model progress using 50 epochs during the training phase, which resulted in more than 98% accuracy and less than 2% loss in both the training/ validation phases. Besides that, we designed a classification report that describes the performance of our model, where we achieved more than 98.07% accuracy score, 98% precision score, 98% of recall score, and 98% of f1-score. These results signify that implementing an optimization technique on the EfficientNetB7 model improves the overall performance as compared to 93.19% for LC 1 and 93.91% for CC 2 for the RestNet50 model.
 Conclusion: A novelty of this research specifies the methodology to predict LC and CC by applying the EfficientNetB7 model to the cancer dataset which might be beneficial for both doctors as well as healthcare firms.

Brand Trust and Brand Evangelism of Healthcare Firms in South- South Nigeria: The Moderating Role of Brand Love

When we consider that humans, plants and animals receive their wellness and wellbeing from medical products and services in modern society, we see that it is vitally important that firms in the healthcare ecosystem recognize and nurture customers’ trust and love for their brands. This study carefully investigated the impact of brand trust on brand evangelism of healthcare firms in south-south Nigeria and the moderating role of brand love. In spite of the growing insight into customers’ brand relationship and its impact on brand evangelism in developed economies, brand trust and evangelism for healthcare brands in south-south Nigeria, remains tenuous, revealing a significant gap in literature. Addressing this gap, we adopt the Commitment-trust Theory perspective to uncover how customers’ trust in healthcare brands can impact on brand evangelism. A quantitative and exploratory research design was the methodological approach employed to investigate customers of healthcare firms in south-south Nigeria. Due to the infinite nature of the population, the cluster probability sampling technique was used and the population divided into twenty (20) clusters of adults within the ages of 25-55years in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers State. Hence, one hundred (100) copies of questionnaire in a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree were designed and administered to obtain primary data. With the aid of the International Business Machine (IBM), Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 23, multiple linear regression was used to determine the degree of impact brand trust has on brand evangelism while Andrew F. Hayes’ PROCESS Procedure for SPSS Version 4.2 was used to determine the extent of moderation of brand love on the impact of brand trust (brand credibility and brand integrity) on brand evangelism of healthcare firms in south-south Nigeria. In view of the test result

Innovation, advertising, personal selling, and sustainability in the industries massively benefited from major public health emergencies: paradoxical evidence from China.

While major public health emergencies have severe socio-economic impacts, they may also present many opportunities for certain industries. For these industries that have benefited significantly (e.g., China' s healthcare industry), the traditional emphasis on improving business performance through increased investment in innovation, marketing and sustainability may face contextual applicability challenges. We used the data of healthcare industry in China during Covid-19 and the methods of hierarchical regression, moderating effect test to analyze the impact of innovation, advertising, personal selling, and sustainability on healthcare firms' profitability. Three kinds of robust test including increasing the measurement range of variables, changing the data source and parameter estimation method, and Quantile regression are used. This paper finds that innovation, advertising, and environmental sustainability have significant negative impacts on profitability, while personal selling, social sustainability, and governance sustainability have significant positive impacts on profitability in the industries massively benefited from major public health emergencies. Besides, social sustainability can significantly moderate the relationship between innovation and profitability. On one hand, for companies in industries that have benefited greatly from major public health emergencies, a shift in resource allocation from innovation, advertising, and environmental sustainability to personal selling, social sustainability, and governance sustainability may be more conducive to improving their profitability. On the other hand, for public health regulatory authorities, it is necessary to strengthen the supervision of sales representatives of health care enterprises, hospitals, public health organizations, etc., and appropriately subsidize the innovation of enterprises to enhance their innovation motivation.

Nexus between technology enabled supply chain dynamic capabilities, integration, resilience, and sustainable performance: An empirical examination of healthcare organizations

Due to the twin impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and sustainability requirements, many healthcare organizations face disruptions and uncertainties, which put patient safety at risk and decrease the overall quality of health services. Drawing on the dynamic capability view, this study aims at exploring the relationship among supply chain dynamic capabilities (SCDCs), supply chain integration (SCI), supply chain resilience (SCR), sustainable competitive advantage (SCA), and sustainable supply chain performance (SSCP). The study collected 325 usable responses from healthcare supply chain organizations in the developing country of Pakistan, including hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturing firms, surgical and equipment manufacturing firms, etc. Structural equation modeling using Smart-PLS v.3.3.2 was adopted for the data analysis. The results indicate that SCDCs positively influence SCI, SCR, SCA, and SSCP. This study finds that SCA, SCI, and SCR mediate the relationship between SCDCs and SSCP. This study contributes by aligning the SC dynamic capabilities for supply chain visibilities (i.e., sensing, learning, and coordinating) in the healthcare context. It has examined the impacts of SCDC, SCI, and SCR collectively rather than addressing them piecemeal. Sensing, learning, and coordinating capabilities through frequent collaborative meetings offer healthcare firms SC integration, allowing them to respond to the changing environment quickly and resiliently, further improving their SCA and SSCP. Since disruptions are inevitable, healthcare organizations must turn uncertainties into opportunities and activate a dynamic and resilient strategy to absorb stress. SCA and SSCP improve when SCDCs/SCR and disruptions are properly balanced.

Auditors Independence and Audit Quality of Health-Care Firms in Nigeria

This study examines the effect of auditor independence on audit quality of twenty industrial goods companies in Nigeria for a period of ten years spanning 2012 to 2021. The objectives were centered on assessing possible effect of client importance, auditor reputation, audit opinion and auditor professional qualification on audit quality of health care companies in Nigeria. To achieve this set objectives, this study employed ex-post-facto research design based on data sourced from selected firm’s yearly reports for time period that ranged from 2012 to 2021. Adopting an ex-post factor and longitudinal research design, the secondary data collected were subjected to some preliminary data tests such as descriptive analysis, Pearson moment correlation matrix and multi-collinearity analysis using Variance Inflation Factor (VIF). The research used panel least square procedure based on fixed and random effect framework and houseman test was equally employed in selecting the best model to estimate parameters contained in the model. Emanating from the review of relevant literature and theories on auditor’s independence and audit quality and based on the data collected, analyzed and the hypotheses tested the study found that auditor reputation and auditor professional qualification recorded a positive and significant effect on audit quality which was statistically significant at 5% level of significance. On this basis, therefore, it may be recommended that there is need for the audit firm to protect its independence by working within its statutory duties. The management of health care companies is hereby advised to always source for the services of reputable audit firms with professional qualification and expertise to ensure quality of audit in their firms

Effect of Accounting Information on Stock Price: Evidence from Quoted Healthcare Firms in Nigeria

This study examined the effect of accounting information on stock price of quoted Healthcare firms in Nigeria, with a view to determining whether accounting information has the ability to significantly affect stock price of Healthcare firms in Nigeria. The study used ex-post facto research design and the period covered was ten years; spanning from 2012 to 2021. Secondary data were sourced from the Nigerian Stock Exchange Fact Book and Annual financial reports of companies quoted on Healthcare sector of Nigeria stock exchange. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression method was employed for the analysis. Findings show that accounting information in terms of dividend per share has a significant positive effect on stock price of Healthcare firms in Nigeria. While earnings per share and return on equity showed no significant positive effect on stock price indicator. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the Healthcare companies should continue to channel their resources towards improving DPS to ensure that it maintains 1% level of significance; as this will enable them to have high MPPS value and invariably perform better in the stock market. The study further recommends that companies should try to maintain high EPS and ROE as though insignificant in the short run, have tendency of being significant in the long run.

Private equity and healthcare firm behavior: Evidence from ambulatory surgery centers

Healthcare firms regularly seek outside capital; yet, we have an incomplete understanding of external investor influence on provider behavior. We investigate the effects of private equity investment, divestment, and an initial public offering (IPO) on ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Throughput is unchanged while charges grow by up to 50% for the same service mix. Affected ASCs witness declines in privately insured cases and rely more on Medicare business. Private equity increases physician ASC ownership stakes, and both simultaneously divest when the ASC is sold. Our findings appear more consistent with private equity influencing the financing of ASCs, rather than treatment approaches.

Procurement physiognomies and creative accounting in Nigerian listed health care firms

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the influence of procurement physiognomies on the creative accounting (CA) of listed health-care firms in Nigeria from 2016 to 2020.Design/methodology/approachThis paper used positivist paradigm. Annual reports and accounts, questionnaire and e-mails were used to obtained and extract quantitative data. The data were analyzed using OLS regression.FindingsThe study found that, procurement planning, e-procurement and procurement legislation compliance possessed negative weighty consequence on CA of quoted Nigerian health-care corporations while outsourcing, procurement staff competency and strategic supplier partnership possess positive substantial impact on the firms’ CA. The article concluded that procurement physiognomies play an important role in managing CA of health-care firms.Research limitations/implicationsThis study findings are only applicable to listed health-care firms in Nigeria. It only used six procurement attributes. The research implication is that researchers are to use the findings in conducting further studies on procurement physiognomies and CA to help in coming up with ways of curbing irregularities in the organizations.Practical implicationsThe health-care firms are to use the findings to come up with policies that ensure malpractices in procurement are curbed and CA is minimized to its barest level. Its societal implication is that the public is to use the findings in changing societal attitudes toward earnings manipulation.Social implicationsIts societal implication is that the public is to use the findings in changing societal attitudes toward earnings manipulation.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this article is the first to evaluate the influence of procurement physiognomies on CA in Nigerian-listed health-care companies. Many researchers neglect how procurement is used to carry out a lot of CA and this study focuses on a mechanism for curtailing corruption.