2.1 About This Step
Setting up a public-private partnership (PPP) in hospital management is a complex task. In using the term "hospital management," one must distinguish general management from clinical management. General management requires experts in disciplines such as finance and administration, while clinical management calls for professionals with medical knowledge and expertise in clinical care. These two branches of management must always coordinate and work together. The broad role of general management is to provide all administrative support and ancillary services to enable the clinical care staff to effectively and safely deliver health services.
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| Box 2.1: List of Likely Stakeholders in a Public-Private Partnership in Hospital Management Who are the stakeholders? Every social intervention has stakeholders. Stakeholders are organizations and individuals that may be significantly affected by the PPP or the project. In Step 2, it is critical that the organization carefully identifies the most important stakeholders. For example, if the purpose of the PPP is to acquire technical expertise, the major stakeholders will be hospital owners and operators rather than funding facilities. For the sake of discussion, stakeholders can be categorized into several groups. Below is a list of likely stakeholders, based on Philippine context. |
| Local government (i) Civil servants (ii) Elected officials National government agencies (i) Department of Health (ii) Department of Interior and Local Government (iii) Commission on Audit (iv) Civil Service Commission (v) Department of Social Welfare and Development (vi) National Economic and Development Authority (vii) Philippine Health Insurance Commission (viii) PPP Center Funding organization facilities and sources (i) Development Bank of the Philippines (ii) Countryside Development Fund (iii) Overseas Development Assistance; examples are the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development, and Japan International Cooperation Agency Private sector (corporate) (i) Hospital owners and operators (ii) Advisors (iii) Suppliers Academe and other learning institutions Civil society (i) Associations (e.g., Philippine Hospital Association) (ii) Nongovernment organizations and foundations Media Patients (i) Paying (ii) Nonpaying/indigent | |
A hospital is thus a complex organization where people with different areas of expertise must work together as a team-and where the weakest link determines the quality of care in the facility. An organization that desires to improve hospital services through a PPP will therefore do well to identify and consider all the stakeholders in the undertaking, both within and outside the organization. This step also brings the organization into contact with people and institutions that can help it with enterprise development, licensing and legal requirements, financing options, and social marketing.