Strategic Response by providers to specialty hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and retail clinics.
Penn collection
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
Diffusion of Innovation
Economic Competition
Health Personnel
Health Services Accessibility
Hospitals, Special
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Models, Theoretical
Surgicenters
United States
Ambulatory Care Facilities
Diffusion of Innovation
Economic Competition
Health Personnel
Health Services Accessibility
Hospitals
Special
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Models
Theoretical
Surgicenters
United States
Health and Medical Administration
Health Services Administration
Medical Education
Other Public Health
Surgery
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Contributor
Abstract
Radical innovation and disruptive technologies are frequently heralded as a solution to delivering higher quality, lower cost health care. According to the literature on disruption, local hospitals and physicians (incumbent providers) may be unable to competitively respond to such "creative destruction" and alter their business models for a host of reasons, thus threatening their future survival. However, strategic management theory and research suggest that, under certain conditions, incumbent providers may be able to weather the discontinuities posed by the disrupters. This article analyzes 3 disruptive innovations in service delivery: single-specialty hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and retail clinics. We first discuss the features of these innovations to assess how disruptive they are. We then draw on the literature on strategic adaptation to suggest how incumbents develop competitive responses to these disruptive innovations that assure their continued survival. These arguments are then evaluated in a field study of several urban markets based on interviews with both incumbents and entrants. The interviews indicate that entrants have failed to disrupt incumbent providers primarily as a result of strategies pursued by the incumbents. The findings cast doubt on the prospects for these disruptive innovations to transform health care.