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Article

Open Access

Applying Importance-Performance Analysis to the Management of Health Care Services

Author(s)

Sérgio Dominique-Ferreira Lopes, Sancha Catarina Frazão Maia

Full-Text PDF Download XML 1039 Views

DOI:10.17265/1537-1514/2012.02.010

Affiliation(s)

Sergio Dominique-Ferreira Lopes, Ph.D., Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave.
Sancha Catarina Frazao Maia, Economist, Agrupamento de Centros de Saúde Feira/Arouca.

ABSTRACT

Importance-performance analysis (IPA) is a strategic approach to measure users’ satisfaction and simply and functionally identify the strengths and the areas of improvement in a particular service. By first ascertaining the importance that users assign to the most relevant attributes of a service and subsequently evaluating the performance of each service, we can obtain a (Cartesian) graph with four quadrants. This graph allows an intuitive assessment of its operation and the implementation of appropriate recommendations for brand management. Therefore, IPA is widely used nowadays, especially in the health services. The present work is a part of a larger study that analyzes satisfaction among the professionals in the health services of Feira-Arouca, Portugal. In this sense, our main objective is to illustrate the considerable potential of IPA in health management in order to enable professionals and managers to identify some of the weaknesses of the health services and management of the Group Health Centers of Feira-Arouca. In this way, the study was based on 189 professionals working in the health sector. The results show that although financial accounting and the provisioning service are the two most important attributes, their performance is very low as compared to their importance. Simultaneously, representing the results on the basis of the classic model of IPA does not allow a clear and strategic interpretation and development of strategies. Thus, by applying a form of representation that was proposed more recently, we can reflect more deeply and improve the efficiency of service management. Consequently, the latter representation clarifies that financial accounting and the provisioning service have the highest priority in terms of management.

KEYWORDS

health services management, strategic analysis, importance-performance analysis

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