Discussion question!

1. Product Life Cycle (PLC) analysis is very relevant to health care programs and services. Perhaps you have not previously have considered medical services as a “product,” but all the principles of Product Life Cycle do apply to our work in medicine, and you need to understand them.

What adaptive strategic alternatives are indicated for each stage of the Product Life Cycle? Provide some specific examples.

2. Computer information systems are changing everything in American health care, both in the business office and at the bedside. What do you consider some of the most important impacts of information systems in medicine today, and how can information systems be used to develop competitive advantage for a health care organization or program?

3. Imagine you are a CEO of a Hospital, how do situational analysis, strategy formulation, value-adding service delivery, value-adding support strategies, and action plans relate to one another in health care under the climate of the Affordable Care Act?

4. Compare the benefits being received by a representative hospital in a community with real amounts of the cost of uncompensated care being given by the organization.