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The study aims to examine how features that foster a sense of control, create positive distractions and provide access to social support influence patients’ well-being and, subsequently, their likelihood to choose hotel-like hospital rooms and their willingness to pay higher out-of-pocket expenses for such rooms. While there is increasing evidence to suggest the importance of the provision of hospitality in healthcare settings, research on these developments remains under-represented, particularly in the hospitality literature. In response, the present study builds on Ulrich’s (1991) theory of supportive design to examine patient responses to hotel-like features in a hospital room.

Using data from a survey of 406 patients, the authors used structural equation modeling to test the model.

Consistent with supportive design principles, the infusion of hotel-like features that foster a sense of control for patients, create positive distractions and provide access to social support was found to positively impact patients’ physical and mental well-being, which, in turn, increased their likelihood to choose a hospital room with hotel-like features and their willingness to pay for such rooms.

Findings attest to the need for healthcare providers to make the necessary investment in hotel-like features and to leverage the communicative power of these environmental cues. Social support in the form of hospitality-trained and certified healthcare staff was found to be the most important hotel-like feature, which also presents significant commercial opportunities for hospitality companies and professionals.

The study represents one of the first attempts to empirically develop a structured model to examine the infusion of hospitality into healthcare. It provides researchers with a theoretically supported framework for future inquiry into the domain. It also makes a significant contribution to advancing the research on patient well-being in healthcare settings and demonstrates the importance of hospitality to such endeavors.

The objective of this study is to assess the role of differentiated hospitality services considering the perspective of Brazilian accredited private hospitals.

In-depth interviews were applied to 10 hospitals top management executives (C-Suite level) having as support unstructured data collection routine exploring the issues: main client of the hospital, differentiated hospitality services (DS), hospital board expectation about DS, brand building, service charging policies and nonfinancial results.

Results indicate the interviewed institutions are adopting gradually a new business model in healthcare, in which an empowered patient and his/her needs and satisfaction is gaining relevance. This new conception having hospitality services as a base is transforming a former medical focused sector into a competitive business-oriented approach.

The nonprobabilistic nature of the sample does not permit statistical inference of results to the population; they are valid only for healthcare management exploratory insights.

Coming from the hotel sector, hospitality amenities are turning into strategic instrument and provoking competition in a segment of hospitals targeting upper-middle-class clients, able to afford higher healthcare insurance premiums.

In the new business approach, the patient that in recent past was passive is increasingly getting attention and bargaining power.

The main contribution is centered on the comprehension of an international dynamic in Brazil of a new business model that is changing a traditional sector, once focused in medicine and healing into a market-oriented business.

This chapter seeks to investigate the journey of breast and bowel cancer patients at the HMC Antoniushove. It zooms in on specific touch points and the possibilities for improvements. Furthermore, it elucidates the learning process and more particular the dissemination between the hospital (staff and medical students) and hospitality students and professionals and emphasizes that looking from different perspectives and various disciplines is beneficial for all the stakeholders involved in hospitals.

Diseases are increasingly chronic; patients are more demanding and competition between different hospitals is increasing. That is why, in addition to excellent medical treatment, excellent service (referred to here as hospitality) is becoming increasingly important in the healthcare sector, including in hospitals. What does it have to meet? What do patients appreciate, what needs to be improved and how can these improvements be designed and implemented with the involvement of both patients and hospital staff?

Medical and hospitality students collaborated in this project analysing and describing the journey of patients with breast and bowel cancer. They examined the patient journey and elucidated the touch points, which patients indicated as critical during their ‘journey’.

Most important finding resulted from the learning process of this collaboration and the insight gained, a greater awareness and understanding of the non-medical needs and wishes, i.e. hospitality, of patients. Furthermore, the mutual understanding between the evidence-based stance of thinking of medical students and hospital staff at the one side and the more on soft skills–focused attitude of hospitality students on the other hand increased.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate consumer's perceptions towards descriptive menus and branding in hospital foodservice. This research is unique in its focus; earlier work has tended to concentrate on palatability and the variety of the menu rather than on dish description.

Data were collected by means of a questionnaire in both medical and surgical wards (n=42). In addition, qualitative comments were sought from patients and foodservice management to enhance and add weight to results and conclusions drawn.

Menu description was welcomed with patients preferring familiar foods. The general consensus was that an unfamiliar dish would not be selected on brand name alone.

The potential impact of the proposed work could be significant with regard to hospital foodservice strategy particularly as greater emphasis has been given to the role of food in clinical outcomes. Any initiative such as improved dish description or use of familiar branded products that alleviates patient concern and concurrently leads to greater acceptance and consumption must be one that is regarded with favour.

A full review of the literature on menu description has been undertaken and no research to date has been conducted to identify patient's perceptions of menu rhetoric design and the effect on food acceptance. This research will bring new information based on empirical evidence about the benefits of dish descriptive style and hints towards a procurement policy for enhancing patient satisfaction. The potential value of this research, therefore, to inform hospital foodservice practice and strategy is identifiable.

The purpose of this study is to examine how servicescapes impact well-being and satisfaction of both hospital customers (patients) and health care professional service providers.

The study investigates how a hospital servicescape impacts two critical outcomes – well-being and satisfaction – of both hospital patients (customers) and health care professionals, who are immersed in that environment.

The hospital servicescape had a greater impact on physical, psychological and existential well-being for professionals than for patients. However, the reverse was true for satisfaction. The new servicescape enhanced the satisfaction and physical and psychological well-being of professionals but only the satisfaction of customers.

The study implications for health care policy suggest that investment in health care-built environments should balance the needs of health care professionals with those of customers to benefit their collective well-being and satisfaction.

Based on the findings, the authors propose that servicescape investments should focus on satisfying the physical needs of patients while also placing emphasis on the psychological needs of professionals.

Health care spending on physical facilities should incorporate careful cost-benefit analysis, ensuring that beneficial features for both user groups are included in new hospital designs, omitting features that are less supportive of well-being.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to compare the impact of the same real-life servicescape on the satisfaction of both customers and service providers (professionals) and considers the critical health outcome of well-being.

The purpose of this study is to investigate patient perceived value as a stimulus of patient engagement behaviors both from the conceptual and empirical perspectives.

Based on the stimulus–organism–response framework, the authors developed a model to determine the impact of patient perceived value on patient engagement behavior in health care. The data were collected from a sample of 391 patients hospitalized in private hospitals. Structural equation modeling technique was used to test the research hypotheses.

The findings confirmed relevance of the service quality dimensions reliability, tangibility, responsiveness and empathy as significant antecedents of patient perceived value. Perceived value plays a significant role in shaping word of mouth and patient helping behaviors.

The findings of this study are relevant and applicable to patients in private hospitals.

This study contributes to the literature by providing new evidence on patient perceived value and engagement behaviors as a response to care quality. With adequate focus on perceived value and service quality, service providers can strengthen the relationship with patients and build a sustainable competitive advantage, by stimulating engagement behaviors in patients.

This study is of unique value to the health-care literature, both from the theoretical and managerial point of views. This study proposes a conceptual model of patient perceived value which can be used in the private health sector. Moreover, this study contributes to the health-care literature by introducing patient-helping behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the concepts of service convergence and service integration, illustrate them in the context of the medical tourism industry, and link them to factors that contributed to the success of a medical tourism firm.

The basis for the conceptual development of service convergence and service integration is an in-depth case study of Bumrungrad International Hospital (BIH) in Thailand. Based on semi-structured interviews and archival data, BIH's business model is analyzed and factors are identified that led to its success in the industry.

BIH's success can be attributed to nine key initiatives that enhanced customer focus, operational efficiency, and service quality. These initiatives supported BIH's twofold business model of product differentiation and globally competitive prices. The firm's activities led to the integration of medical and hospitality services resulting in a new, enhanced product. Competitors adopted BIH's service integration approach, which started the service convergence trend in the medical tourism industry.

The conceptual foundations for service convergence and service integration are laid in this paper and can serve as the basis for future research.

Insights from BIH's business model can guide firms in medical tourism and related industries on how to innovate and how to successfully implement their service products.

This paper introduces the term service convergence and discusses its mechanisms. Furthermore, it identifies success factors of a leading firm in the medical tourism industry and links them to service integration.

Grounded on substantial theories and service concept models, this paper aims at proposing a novel patient satisfaction index (PSI) model. This model allows for identifying the key sources of patient satisfaction and for comparing performance results across hospitals competing on the national and international health-care market. The PSI is also an important benchmark instrument for medical tourism.

The PSI model was initially tested in hospitals in a developed country (the German hospital market). A total of 1,281 complete patient responses were analyzed by means of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

This model’s sources of competitive advantage – doctors’ and nurses’ interaction quality, environmental quality and outcome quality – mostly explain patient satisfaction, which is the key target construct. The results also reveal that the doctors’ and nurses’ interaction quality is the most salient driver of patient satisfaction.

The proposed PSI model can be generally applied to facilitate the comparison of hospitals on a regional, national and even an international level. In addition, the PSI model helps health-care management facilities prioritize their service components’ improvement (e.g. to attract more medical tourists).

Medical tourists are confronted with a variety of health destinations and may find it difficult to choose an appropriate region and health-care provider. This study contributes to medical tourism research by developing a general patient satisfaction index model for medical tourists.

本论文以多种理论和服务概念为理论基础, 建立全新的患者满意度测量（PSI）模型。此模型涵盖了多种患者满意因素, 以及针对国内和国际健康管理市场上的各种医院, 提供性能和质量比较方法。PSI同时也是医疗旅游很重要的衡量标尺。.

PSI模型首先在发达国家（德国医疗市场）的多家医院进行测试。1281份可用患者问卷用于分析研究。本论文采用偏最小二乘回归结构方程模型（PLS-SEM）为数据分析方法。.

患者满意的影响因素包括：医生和护士与患者的互动质量、环境质量、医疗结果质量等多种竞争优势因素。本论文还发现医生和护士对患者的互动质量是导致患者满意的最显著的因素。.

PSI模型可以被推广应用在区域、国家、甚至跨国医院的比较上面。此外, PSI模型帮助健康看护管理组织更好地优化服务细节 （比如, 吸引更多医疗旅游的患者）。

医疗旅游的患者面临多种健康目的地的选择, 可能会很难选择合适的地方和健康服务结构。本论文为医疗旅游的患者建立完善的患者满意度衡量模型, 对医疗旅游研究做出贡献。.

研究论文

This paper aims to explore how hospitable telemedicine services empowered patients during the COVID-19. Expanding from the technology aspect, this research integrated the philosophy of hospitality organizational culture by including factors related to human-human interaction as significant predictors for patients’ sense of empowerment (perceived competence and control) in coping with their emotional stress (anxiety and isolation).

Survey data were obtained from 409 general consumers who have used video-based virtual consultation since February 2020. Stepwise multiple regression and simple linear regression analyses were used for hypotheses testing.

The results reveal that the doctors’ reliability, responsiveness and empathy significantly predict patients’ perceived competence and control. Perceived usefulness and convenience of telemedicine technology enhance patients’ perceived competence and control. Patients’ sense of empowerment significantly reduces their anxiety and sense of isolation.

To fully understand the role of hospitality in people’s telemedicine experiences, future studies are encouraged to not only examine the patients-clinicians interactions but also explore the patients-support staff interactions.

Health care providers’ “bed-side” manners empower patients in managing their emotional stress. Health care providers should be trained for their empathetic ability and communication skills. Strategies such as collaborating with hospitality schools and business schools can be implemented to help build medical student’s patient-centric attitudes and skills.

This paper provided empirical evidence for the value of hospitality in health care and offered useful suggestions for health care providers, especially by empowering vulnerable people during catastrophic events such as COVID-19.

The main purpose of this chapter is to analyze the relationship between service innovation and experience creation in the context of spas, wellness and medical tourism. The objectives include providing an overview of service innovation theory and models and applying them to the spa, wellness and medical tourism sectors.

Primary research was undertaken with the purpose of identifying the most important elements in the experiences of spa and wellness guests and tourists. An online questionnaire was collected from 17 different types of spa and wellness facilities from 56 countries including all kinds of spa, wellness hotels, and retreats. Information given was based on three major demand segments: local customers, domestic tourists, and international tourists. A case study is also given of Pärnu hospital in Estonia, where innovative practices are being implemented to enhance the patient experience.

Findings suggested that some aspects of innovation (e.g., design and technology) are not as important as expected, but evidence-based treatments, medical services, and natural and local resources are.

The research gives important insights into customer preferences and current and future trends; however, the research only focused on operator rather than consumer perspectives. This would require further research.

The research findings provide useful information to operators who are trying to create innovative, unique, and competitive customer services.

Existing service innovation models are applied to new sectors (spa, wellness and medical tourism) and new insights are given into how these sectors can increase innovation and enhance customer experiences.