Smart Healthcare and Value Co-creation: The Service Science Perspective to Healthcare Quality Improvements

Abstract

This paper aims to identify efficient paths for improving healthcare service quality by adopting the theoretical framework of Service Science based on value co-creation and smart healthcare. Through a literary review, the links between healthcare quality, patient satisfaction and value co-creation are identified and analyzed from a smart healthcare perspective. Theoretical implications are tested through the analysis of the Lazio region case in Italy. The results make it possible to identify the possible positive effects on the quality of the health service deriving from the application of new management logics based on sharing and co-creating services between health professionals and patients by using the latest digital technologies. This work suggests the adoption of new logics, practices and technological tools that allow health managers to design experiences and services able to satisfy patients' different needs while benefiting from them through "win-win" solutions, able to create a higher value for all the actors involved in the healthcare process.