Current Issues of Healthcare Research and Development in Korea / 보건행정학회지

There has been much efforts to facilitate healthcare innovation and many desirable outcomes were produced in Korea. However, some structural deficiencies were found. They are misalignment of research and development (R&D) subjects with healthcare system, lack of flexibility of current healthcare system to accommodate the radically innovative products, and lack of cooperation among innovation agent. Some suggestions to correct these deficiencies are discussed. The suggestions are as follows: relating Korean healthcare R&D to healthcare system, enhancement of institutional flexibility to allow innovative application of new technology, improvement of the R&D process, and reexamination of the role of academic medical centers.

Successful use of customer relationship management system in hospital healthcare centers

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a valuable method for establishing long-term customer relationships across different business areas. CRM system stores and analyzes a vast amount of customer information and provides alternatives to meet customer expectations using data warehouse and on-line analysis processing technology. Intensified competitiveness in the healthcare industry has increased the number of healthcare centers and propelled the introduction of CRM systems to meet diverse customer satisfaction. Leading the adoption of information technology in the healthcare businesses has enabled the use of CRM technology to develop close patient-provider relationship. Especially, healthcare centers are using CRM system to provide better healthcare services as well as customer management services. This study aims to explore the current status and influential factors that will stimulate and drive the successful use of CRM system in healthcare centers. For this purpose, a survey has been conducted for CRM system users in 13 healthcare centers to investigate the current status of CRM system and the influential factors for successful use. The evaluation criteria include four categories; system quality, information quality, service quality and perceived usefulness. These criteria have been developed based on previous researches, especially DeLone & McLean information system success model. In addition, the system output is evaluated by user satisfaction, personal performance and organizational performance. The study showed that users evaluated information quality and service quality positively and to be higher than other factors in terms of influence. And the user evaluation proved that CRM system provides increased user satisfaction, organizational performance, and especially, individual performance. This is clear evidence that CRM system will improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness, which in turn, can provide competitive advantage for the healthcare centers.