Service Research Contribution for Health Networks' Understanding

Purpose- Healthcare is a complex issue to deal with due to the number of actors involved with different perspectives and resources. Still health deals with social, ethical and economic priorities, and any effort focused to the improvement of the management of healthcare networks ought to be pursued. The paper's purpose is to introduce recent service research advances capable of underpinning value co creation processes within health services. Methodology- The paper analyses health care services on the basis of Viable System Approach (VSA) (Golinelli, 2000; 2010; Barile 2000), S-D logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004; 2008) and Service Science (Spohrer et al, 2006; 2007), approaching health as a service co-creation process involving numerous actors with various kind of resources. Findings- The paper suggests that in order to detect performing health services a network perspective ought to be adopted, trying to valorize s-d logic suggestions and culture for the strengthening of value co-creation processes. Practical implications- There are several actors involved in health processes whose active participation is required to prevent, control and treat diseases. This implies a coordination of governmental, management and social systems (Edvardsson, Tronvoll, Gruber, 2011) and the valorization of ICT since healthcare networks might be seen as complex service systems capable of improving delivered service quality and performance. Originality- The paper provides theories and a methodology useful to explore and evaluate Health Care Systems and networks in terms of efficacy, effectiveness, sustainability, viability.