Abstract
Hospitality Bridging Healthcare or H2H services can create a satisfying experience for the patient/guest, which can lead to long-lasting loyalty. Hospitality and health care services will play a critical role for success in the entirety of the process. University graduates of hotel and hospitality schools that focus on this intersection of H2H will be rewarded with challenging and lucrative careers. The path forward includes developing a core curriculum and courses for this promising new H2H career track. It will be an intersection of business management, health care administration, and hotel/hospitality business management theory and practice with an appropriate industry internship with hands-on learning in the hospitals, health care, and medical centers.
Prologue
Hospitality and healing have been intertwined from ancient times. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a Samaritan came upon a severely beaten man in need of assistance along the roadway. He disinfected the man’s wounds with wine and used oil to soothe his pain. After rendering medical assistance, the Samaritan transported the injured man to an inn for a time of healing and rest.
The roots of the modern health care and hospitality industries can be traced back to the late 1800s. Pioneers in health care such as the Mayo Brothers traveled the world to learn about the latest advancements in medical care from colleagues in far-flung places such as China, India, and Europe. During their travels, they undoubtedly experienced the best—and the worst—of hotel and hospitality offerings. Perhaps they stayed in a hotel run by Cesar Ritz.
These pioneers of health care and hospitality developed similar overarching beliefs. For the founders of the Mayo Clinic, it was “The needs of the patient come first.” In the case of Cesar Ritz of Ritz Hotel fame, it was “Le client n’a jamais tort” or “The customer is never wrong.”
Today, many health care and hospitality organizations are looking to strengthen and broaden their brands. The wise leaders of these enterprises have come to understand that the future belongs to those who can combine the best of hospitality with health care delivery to deliver an outstanding experience. Indeed, the secret of success in the expanding world of medical tourism is the mastery of hospitality and health care.
In the book, Medical Tourism and Wellness: Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (DeMicco, 2016), we learn of insights about the past, present, and future of health care and hospitality. H2H stresses that consumers expect quality and value from all products and services that they purchase.
The concept of Hospitality Bridging Healthcare (H2H) is a valuable cultural philosophy that makes excellence a habit as we strive to delight our patients/guests.
—Shirley A. Weis
Former, Chief Administrative Officer, Mayo Clinic
Introduction
Since the 1970s, with the advent of managed care, diagnostic-related groups, and other social and policy forces, health care providers have faced reimbursement constraints and an increasingly competitive marketplace. These developments and the later advent of digital communications hastened the emergence of the patient as consumer. Arguably, once patients became consumers, it was inevitable that they would also be seen as customers, or guests. This paradigm shift fostered the now-prevalent preponderance of hospitality-style service enhancements throughout the health care industry.
Health care leaders now understand that medical and healthful patient outcomes are most successful when integrated with a hospitality-driven process. The preplanning of the medical journey leading up to the arrival at the medical/health/wellness destination begins with a cascade of multiple Hospitality Bridging Healthcare or H2H services to create an entire satisfying experience for the patient/guest, which can lead to positive health and loyalty outcomes, if performance in the entirety of the process is at the highest level. Hospitality and health care services working in harmony and cadence will play a critical role for success.
The H2H Model
The H2H model consists of different ways of merging the operations of hospitals with processes and operation from hospitality and hotel services to provide superior service quality. First, H2H proposes that hotels and hospitals can be merged operationally. Second H2H can provide an entire service package for patients seeking treatment that spans the whole service spectrum from hospital to hotel. The third model merges both entities such that they represent one unit.
Some institutions have long recognized the health benefits of the nonmedical aspects of caring for patients. At Mayo Clinic, the campus grounds abound with interesting architecture, colorful landscaping, fountains, and even a sculpture garden. Likewise, the interior features artwork worthy of a museum. Perhaps, more important, all staff understand the dictum that “the needs of the patient come first.” Satisfaction surveys confirm that patients feel that they have been treated as a person, not a “number.”
Extending this recognition, our partner and coauthors from the Bad Ragaz in Switzerland (see Figures 1 and 2) administered a patient-centered medical resort equipped with various innovative facilities and services such as aquatic therapy and a spa that help patients experience better care and a faster recovery (DeMicco, 2016; DeMicco, 2018; Kucukusta et al., 2019).
An Example of a Switzerland Hospitality Bridging Healthcare Model
Swiss Hospitality Bridging Healthcare: The Grand Resort at Bad Ragaz Wellbeing and Medical Center in Switzerland
In the future, patients will enjoy hotel-level hospitality while receiving medical services in their room via technological advancements offered by expert staff from the hospitals. The experience of being a patient will be improved considerably if hotels become partners of hospitals in delivering service experience for their customers (patients). For example, at the Mayo Clinic, even those who have less than desirable outcomes (e.g., terminal cancer patients) express satisfaction with their overall care (author-observed focus group).
Health Care Hospitality Management as a Career
By reinforcing the principles of service excellence and employing some of the tools and suggestions described below, every hospitality/hotel and health care manager (“Hospitality” manager), can significantly strengthen patient/guest loyalty.
Key areas of needed focus are as follows:
Why patient or guest loyalty is very important.
Why satisfied patients/guests do not equate to loyalty.
Why each manager and employee have a role to play in the service setting.
How attitude, courtesy, and compassion are the bedrock for success.
The term health care comprises hospitals, medical campuses (many with dedicated hotels), clinics, retirement communities, nursing homes, and life care and continuing care facilities. Approaching almost $4 trillion annual expenditure, health care is a part of the U.S. economy that shows no signs of slowing down. Given the aging population, the need for all services in the health care category will steadily increase. Furthermore, despite the abundance of data available, patients and loved ones have a difficult time assessing the “technical” factors of health care quality. Service markers usually substitute as criteria for judging a hospital or provider. Consequently, with the newfound importance of service criteria, there will be many career openings for hotel and restaurant management graduates.
Generally, hospital-based hotel-type services are administered by contract management companies and self-operated. For example, ARAMARK, which has contracted hospitals such as Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia in comparison to the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (where Fred DeMicco completed his dietetic internship for the registered dietitian certification), is self-operated (a noncontracted operator) medical center.
Graduates from hospitality, business, and health care management programs who join this segment of the health care/hospitality industry can look forward to solid growth for the future, stable work hours, good pay and benefits (particularly medical insurance), oftentimes day care for employee children, career growth, and the satisfaction of making a real difference by serving people in need. Usually a graduate of a 4-year hospitality program begins as an assistant director, works up to a director of food services, and eventually can become a general manager (GM) or vice president for patient/guest services. The U.S. labor force as a whole is expected to have slow if not anemic job growth as workers age. Indeed, much of the job growth in the coming decades will focus on services for seniors. Health care occupations and related health industries are expected to have the fastest employment growth and add the most jobs through 2024 according to the U.S. Department of Labor (The Wall Street Journal, 2015).
As more health care facilities grow to become “medical campuses” and medical meccas for care, they emulate hotels in their quality and delivery of health and wellness (H2H) services. Many build hotels or have partner hotels for medical guests and tourists on their health campuses. An innovative approach for blending hospitality and health care can be found in Orlando, where the RosenCare model could boost lodging revenue by using medical travel to the United States (DeMicco & Pizam, 2019). In fact, in medical centers and hospitals, after the procedure (surgery or other treatment), approximately 75% of the services provided to patients are hospitality/hotel-related services (H2H) including dining, environmental, transportation, front desk, educational, and entertainment services (Figure 3).
Hospitality Bridging Healthcare: Medical Versus Hospitality Services in a Health Center
And, for example, medical centers may add wellness classes, culinary education, and spa operations, which hospitality school graduates should be prepared to oversee. In addition, more food service directors are becoming GMs of the entire health care campus enterprise who lead not only the traditional hospital facilities but also the hotel(s), spa, and wellness services; environmental services (e.g., housekeeping); transportation services; parking; valet services; gift shops; employee markets; the grounds; snow removal; well-being education; and all dining venues, including room services. This is usually a vice president (VP) position on the health care campus and can provide challenge, excitement, personal fulfillment of caring, and very good pay and benefits in the six-figure salary range. In sum, hospitality schools prepare graduates to be GMs of hotels, and now graduates should think of becoming GMs/VPs of the health care (nonmedical) operations and H2H patient/guest services in the future.
The Opportunity for a New Campus Major: H2H
This is clearly a field for hospitality, business, and health care graduates that provides challenge and growth opportunities well into the future. Therefore, a new major on campuses that concentrates on hospitality bridging health care prepares graduates for a growing field, and a challenging career holds outstanding opportunities for future graduates of hotel and restaurant management schools and departments (see Figure 4).
The Intersection of Hospitality With Health Care (Hospitality Bridging Healthcare)
Conclusion
The preplanning of the medical journey leading up to the arrival at the medical/health/wellness destination begins a cascade of multiple H2H services to create a holistic and satisfying experience for the patient/guest. This can lead to long-lasting loyalty if performance in the entirety of the process is at the highest level. Hospitality and health care services will play a critical role for success. Graduates of programs focusing on this intersection of H2H will be rewarded with challenging, satisfying, and lucrative careers. The path forward includes developing a core curriculum and courses for this promising new career track. It will be an intersection of business management, health care administration, and hotel/hospitality business management theory and practice with industry hands-on learning.
Addendum
DeMicco obtained a ductorate degree from Disney University while he worked at Disney. Lessons learned from his attendance at Disney University in Orlando, Florida, uses a Sleeping Beauty Seven Dwarfs Disney analogy, which has application to H2H: Be Happy, by making eye contact and smile; Be like Sneezy and greet and welcome each guest. Spread the spirit of Hospitality, it is contagious; don’t be Bashful, seek out Guest contact; be like Doc and provide immediate Service recovery; don’t be Grumpy, always display appropriate body language at all times; be like Sleepy, and create dreams and preserve the “Magical” Guest experience and don’t be Dopey, thank each and every guest. (Cockerell, 2008, pp. 151–154)
Sharing this Disney vision with employees and providing a structure for them to serve the patient/guest while understanding their role and following the patient/guest experience script (story board) like Disney does, can lead to patient/guest loyalty and a successful and healthy outcome (DeMicco, 2018).