Date
2-28-2025
Department
Graduate School of Business
Degree
Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Chair
Gayle Jesse
Keywords
healthcare, quality, definition, individual, satisfaction, improvement, patient
Disciplines
Business
Recommended Citation
McGarrah, Phillip Dale Jr., "The Impact of Individual Definitions of Healthcare Quality on the Healthcare Industry and Organizations in the Southeastern United States" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6538.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/6538
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative case study using a flexible design was to determine if there was a lack of a consensus stakeholder accepted definition of healthcare quality, what were the individual definitions of healthcare quality, and the potential impact on healthcare organizations in the southeastern United States. Exploration of the literature yielded numerous studies that identified specific healthcare quality attributes favored by specific industry members but that none of those definitions were shared between stakeholders. Those studies, however, did not consider the entirety of the stakeholders in their identification of healthcare quality defining attributes nor reasons for differences or other existing definitions. This study utilized semi-structured and in-depth interviews, surveys, and stakeholder published information as data sources from the stakeholder groups of medical professionals, regulatory authorities, organizational members, and patients. Analysis of the data resulted in the emergence of four themes: each participant group focused on different healthcare quality attributes, the regulatory authority and organizational member groups had a measure of shared attribute inclusion, patient satisfaction was the most noted attribute but was also driven by economic factors, and clinical experience was important only to the medical professionals stakeholder group. Further analysis suggests that the individual definitions of healthcare quality contribute to inefficiencies which were sources of increased costs and present a threat to medical organizations. The findings also provide insight into potential opportunities to mitigate the impact of individualistic definitions of healthcare quality which consist of demand shaping including complementary services, process and resource alignment, especially with regard to clinicians, and feedback loops with voice of the customer being a primary pathway.
