Castel and Dunne publish in Health Care Management Science

Matthew Castel, assistant professor of supply chain management and Timothy Dunne, associate professor of management, have had their paper "Hospital service focus vs. breadth: Impact on hospital outcomes and the moderating role of hospital size," published in Health Care Management Science.

Their study looks at how hospitals in the United States can improve performance by lowering costs while also increasing patient satisfaction. Hospitals often take different approaches to achieving these goals. Some choose to specialize, focusing on a smaller number of services to improve efficiency, while others expand the range of services they offer so patients can receive more types of care in one place.

The pair suggest these strategies do not have to compete with each other. Hospitals may benefit from doing both - expanding services while also developing strong expertise in certain areas. Additionally, their study looks at how hospital size affects the relationship between these strategies, patient satisfaction and costs.

The results show that specialization generally increases patient satisfaction and lowers costs, although the improvement in satisfaction is smaller in large hospitals. Offering a wider range of services also helps reduce costs, but can slightly lower patient satisfaction, though this effect is less noticeable in larger hospitals.

Castel and Dunne's study shows that hospitals do not need to focus on one area and can instead improve performance by balancing specialization with a broad range of services.

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