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Purpose – This paper seeks to look at healthcare service quality from the viewpoint of its negative impact on the industry when there is a deficiency in the delivery of service quality. To measure this impact, the potential loss of customers due to poor quality service is measured. A potential customer loss model is proposed. To address the competitive and financially driven healthcare delivery business, a three‐pillar approach, termed the Excellent Healthcare Service Model (EHSM), is introduced. This approach advocates that the healthcare industry should use a system view to deliver quality healthcare by taking into account quality, cost, and efficiency factors in a holistic manner. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper a survey questionnaire was used to gather data necessary to compute impact of deficient healthcare service. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 400 people and the survey method used was intercept interview. Customer loss and potential customer loss due to deficient service were computed. Findings – In this paper, findings from the research indicated that, in the healthcare industry, for every 100 customers that experienced deficient service, about 70 customers would be unlikely to patronize the same organization again. In addition, for the same 100 customers who have experienced deficient service, about 75 of them will go on to tell on average nine family members and friends about their experiences. Through word of mouth from these 75 dissatisfied customers, there will eventually be about 465 persons who might have been potential customers but will probably not patronize the organization at all based on what the dissatisfied customers have told them. Practical implications – The ideas presented in this paper provide a new way of looking at service quality performance, through the impact of deficient service. With this knowledge, economic impacts of poor service quality could easily be quantified, and such economic‐based results are usually a better motivator for managers and workers to deploy quality improvement initiatives. Originality/value – The results and ideas presented in this paper are valuable for the healthcare industry. It provides an alternative approach to quantify service quality performance. The paper also proposes a system‐based approach to enhance service process performance.

Currently the healthcare industry in the US is not only contending with relentless pressures to lower costs while maintaining and increasing the quality of service but is also under a stringent timeline to become compliant with the health insurance, portability and accountability act (HIPAA) regulatory requirements. Robust healthcare information systems (HCIS) become critical to enabling healthcare organizations address these challenges. Hence, it becomes an imperative need that the information that is captured, generated and disseminated by these HCIS be of the highest possible integrity and quality as well as compliant with regulatory requirements. This paper addresses this need by proposing an integrative framework for HIPAA compliant, I*IQ HCIS. It bases this framework on an integration of the requirements for HIPAA compliance, the principles of information integrity, as well as the healthcare quality aims set forth by the Committee on the Quality of Healthcare in America.

One of the most important instruments for gathering information and processing data relating to professional and organisational quality in health systems is “healthcare processes classification”. The authors found that a typical problem of many European countries is a lack of reliable information in the field of healthcare, mainly because the development of quality instruments, including healthcare processes classification, is not a priority for medical and other health professions. Additionally, it is difficult to update this instrument coherently with organisational changes and developmental achievements. This article describes the approach used by the University Medical Centre in Ljubjana, Slovenia, to redesign its healthcare processes classification in order to improve the quality of healthcare.

Researchers have widely explored and associated corporate social responsibility with firm success. Measuring the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), service quality, corporate reputation, and brand preference by drawing on the stakeholder theory in healthcare industry and developing countries remains a substantial research gap.

Based on quantitative research and convenience sampling, data for the study were collected from 320 patients who have undergone treatments in 5 different private hospitals in Tehran, Iran. We analyzed the data using the Smart PLS 3.0 structural equation modeling technique.

The survey revealed that service quality and CSR are positively linked with corporate reputation, leading to brand preference in the healthcare sector. In addition, the mediating role of brand reputation in the relationship between corporate social responsibility, service quality and brand preference were confirmed.

The survey was performed in the context of the healthcare industry; however, additional studies are necessary to extrapolate the results to other fields, such as education and food. This research helps guide policymakers, administrators, healthcare managers, and researchers by highlighting the contribution and role of service quality, corporate social responsibility, and corporate reputation in achieving a hospital’s performance.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study also extends research in the diverse literature by examining the relationship between CSR, service quality, corporate reputation, and brand preference by illustrating the stakeholder theory in the context of the healthcare sector.

Technology-enabled healthcare focuses on providing better information flow and coordination in healthcare operations. Technology-enabled health services enable hospitals to manage their resources effectively, maintain continuous patient engagement and provide seamless services without compromising their perceived quality.

This study investigates the role of technology-enabled health services in improving perceived healthcare quality among patients. Data are collected from the users (n = 418) of health platforms offered in multi-specialty hospitals. Multiple learners are employed to accurately represent the users' perceived quality regarding the perceived usefulness of the features provided via these digital health platforms.

The best-fitted model using a decision tree classifier (accuracy = 0.86) derives the accurate significance of features offered in the digital health platform in fostering perceived healthcare quality. Diet and lifestyle recommendations (30%) and chatting with health professionals (11%) are the top features offered in digital health platforms that primarily influence the perceived quality of healthcare among users.

The predictability of perceived quality with the individual features existing in the digital health platform, the significance of the features on the perceived healthcare quality and the prediction rules showing the combined effect of features on healthcare quality can help healthcare managers accelerate digital transformation in hospitals by improving their digital health platform, designing and offering new health packages while strengthening their e-infrastructure.

The study represents perceived healthcare quality with the features offered in digital health platforms using machine learners based on users' post-pandemic experience. By advancing digital platforms with more patient-centric features using emerging technologies, this model can further foresee its impact on the perceived quality of healthcare, offering valuable directions to healthcare service providers. The study is limited to focusing on digital health platforms that can deal with people's general healthcare needs.

The primary objective of this study is to conduct a comprehensive literature review focused on the concept of service quality within the healthcare sector. This research aims to categorize and analyze the various dimensions associated with service quality.

The systematic literature review methodology was employed to accomplish current study goals, and specific criteria were utilized to select relevant research articles spanning the years from 2000 to 2023. Ultimately, 57 articles met the criteria and were included in the study.

Through a meticulous review of selected articles, our research identified and categorized 29 distinct measures for evaluating service quality in the healthcare sector. These measures were further grouped into five overarching categories, namely: overall service quality, personal characteristics, healthcare facility administration, patient attributes and the servicescape. Our investigation highlighted that the dimensions commonly utilized to assess service quality in healthcare primarily draw from the SERVQUAL framework. Additionally, there is significant emphasis on measurements related to the physical environment's quality, overall patient satisfaction and behavioral intention.

This review offers original value by synthesizing diverse literature on healthcare service quality, highlighting SEVQUAL dimensions and critical variables used for assessment. It provides insight into the subjective nature of service quality and varied sampling methods and contributes to enhancing service quality and patient satisfaction in healthcare settings.

The scope of this study is to explore and summarize the pool of dimensions, models and measurement techniques of service quality used in healthcare services and to propose a comprehensive conceptual model for practitioners and researchers.

This research employs a comprehensive review of available literature by using multiple keywords on different electronic repositories using the recommendations of the PRISMA approach for the selection of articles. A critical analysis of available studies helped in compiling a list of core service quality dimensions in healthcare services.

This paper presents a comprehensive account of different dimensions and their measurement items used by various researchers to assess service quality in healthcare systems. Most of the researchers have used SERVQUAL model either in its original or modified form while the others have proposed and used totally different dimensions to assess the service quality in healthcare. Many dimensions are just an existing dimension of SERVQUAL that has undergone a name change while others are completely new. The dimensions used by many researchers have items drawn from more than one dimension of SERVQUAL model. The availability of so many dimensions and models adds to the confusion that researchers and practicing managers experience when determining the appropriate model to be used in their work. To mitigate this confusion, there is a need to develop a comprehensive model; the current work is an attempt to meet this need. Through our analysis, we identify four major service quality dimensions: clinical quality, infrastructural quality, relationship and managerial quality and propose a model named CIRMQUAL.

After exploring all available models in the domain of healthcare, this research presents the best possible areas to enhance the quality of healthcare services. It also enhances the research insights for academicians and working professionals by developing and proposing a comprehensive model for measuring healthcare service quality. The proposed model covers almost all of the service quality dimensions used by other researchers and will make the choice of dimensions/model easy for the future researchers/practitioners interested in measuring and improving the quality of services offered by their healthcare units. Such a comprehensive model has not been developed by any researcher thus far.

The purpose of this study is to capture patients' and employees' perception of quality of care in the Indian private hospitals and to find the possible perceptual gaps between both the groups.

Authors have referred to the Victorian patient satisfaction monitoring (VPSM) scale and studied the responses of 327 patients and 327 employees collected from six private Indian tertiary care hospitals. SPSS v26 software was used to conduct the data reliability test, descriptive analysis and Mann–Whitney U test.

Authors have found significant differences in perceptions of quality of care between the patients and employees in the Indian hospitals. Employees have high positive perceptions towards the provided medical care whereas the patients have less favourable perceptions for many quality indicators.

This study findings help the healthcare managers, practitioners and healthcare workers of the Indian hospitals to understand the perceptions of both the employees and the patients towards healthcare quality elements and help to reduce the existing perceptual gap in the process of providing quality healthcare services.

To the best of authors knowledge, this is one of the pioneering studies conducted in Indian healthcare industry to capture and compare the perceptions of both the employees' and the patients' perceptions of various quality of care elements. This study highlighted the existing perceptual gap between the employees and the patients on various healthcare quality elements and indicated the critical areas for improvement to provide high quality healthcare services.

Current health care quality performance indicators appear to be inadequate to inform the public to make the right choices. The aim of this paper is to define a framework and an organizational setting in which valid and reliable healthcare information can be produced to inform the general public about healthcare quality.

To improve health care quality information, the paper explores the analogy between financial accounting, which aims to produce valid and reliable information to support companies informing their shareholders and stakeholders, and healthcare aiming to inform future patients about healthcare quality. Based on this analogy, the authors suggest a measurement framework and an organizational setting to produce healthcare information.

The authors suggest a five‐quality element framework to structure quality reporting. The authors also indicate the best way to report each type of quality, comparing performance indicators with certification/accreditation. Health gain is the most relevant quality indicator to inform the public, but this information is the most difficult to obtain. Finally, the organizational setting, comparable to financial accounting, required to provide valid, reliable and objective information on healthcare quality is described.

Framework elements should be tested in quantitative studies or case studies, such as a performance indicator's relative value compared to accreditation/ certification. There are, however, elements that can be implemented right away such as third party validation of healthcare information produced by healthcare institutions.

Given the money spent on healthcare worldwide, valid and reliable healthcare quality information's value can never be overestimated. It can justify delivering “expensive” healthcare, but also points the way to savings by stopping useless healthcare. Valid and reliable information puts the patient in the driver's seat and enables him or her to make the right decision when choosing their healthcare provider.

The aim of this paper is to build a comprehensive conceptual model to understand and measure variables affecting patient satisfaction‐based healthcare quality.

A total of 24 articles from international journals were systematically reviewed for factors determining patient satisfaction and healthcare quality.

Patient satisfaction is a multi‐dimensional healthcare construct affected by many variables. Healthcare quality affects patient satisfaction, which in turn influences positive patient behaviours such as loyalty. Patient satisfaction and healthcare service quality, though difficult to measure, can be operationalized using a multi‐disciplinary approach that combines patient inputs as well as expert judgement.

The paper develops a conceptual model that needs to be confirmed empirically. Also, most research pertains to developed countries. Findings are presented that may not be generalized to developing nations, which may be quite different culturally.

The paper has direct implications for health service providers. They are encouraged to regularly monitor healthcare quality and accordingly initiate service delivery improvements to maintain high levels of patient satisfaction.

The paper collates and examines recent healthcare quality study findings. It presents a comprehensive, conceptual model encompassing research work and a holistic view of various aspects affecting patient satisfaction and healthcare quality. Although a large amount of healthcare quality research has been done, each studying a particular service, this paper comprehensively brings together various research findings.