In the United States, the Health Care Industry is tremendously growing. This has brought newer opportunities for the businesses to take place. Health care is basically defined as an institute that gives medical facilities including its equipments and products and services in order to give a quality life to the patient. Therefore there are many providers who are inter related with various areas of proficiency. The huge industry can be categorized into two groups that are health care Equipment and Services and Life Sciences, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology. Yet every intermediary from the stethoscope to the x-ray technician plays a function. (Sena, 2017)
This essay will evaluate US health care industry using Porter’s model of 5 forces.
Rivalry Among the Competitors
Intense rivalry is faced by the health care industry in United Stated. According to a report in 2008 about market capitalization, Healthcare companies were found to lead in terms of margin over other companies from other health care companies in the industry, showing intense competition. This industry is also better able gain benefit because of high switching cost. An individual signing the policy for health care is able to use only one provider thus they are not able to switch to another company. (Puhl and Wolfe, 2008)
The bargaining Power of Buyers
In the Health care sector in USA, buyers hold a weak bargaining power or in other words, customers hold a weaker position. To avail the health care service, a price has to be paid for it. Customers are more interested in taking the health insurance and pay the price for it as they may not be able to afford any life saving operation if injured. According to Porter, value generation is more important than the price. Thus a high quality care with lesser price should be considered so that this industry could gain margins through a value based competition. (Meyers, 2014) Hence, the ultimate goal of this industry is to create value enough and establish an economically stable environment. (Health Care Industry Report, 2014)
The Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Suppliers hold a high bargaining power as this sector is totally dependent on its services provided. The suppliers are lesser in number than the buyers. In most cases every American would need to consult a healthcare in lifetime, this means each one would also be a customer at some point in the industry. Despite the increase in healthcare cost, demand does not stop because people and also the government is more concerned about people’s health and quality of life.
Substitute of Existing Products
Customers prefer cheaper prescription medicines. They would always opt to go where they are able to find cheaper prices. Store like Wal-Mart or Target or other small in-house medical stores provide cheaper drugs however substitutes for complete health coverage plan lacks and the situation is less alarming for future prospects as well. (Puhl and Wolfe, 2008)
Customers today also like to adapt the “do it yourself strategy” and thus in the digital world they want to adopt such trends where they remain connected through the technology and keep most of the medical equipments at home. (Moritz, 2015)
Threat Towards the Entry of New Entrants
As there are very few companies that dominate in this sector hence the threat of entry of new companies in the market is comparatively very low. A smaller firm performing better would be brought down by the larger and more dominating firm despite its high growth. The situation expected to remain the same because of expensive switching cost and the insure premiums. (Puhl and Wolfe, 2008)
Thus companies to sustain and compete using evaluation of the United States Health care sector needs to prioritize on policies that could reduce cost with a greater efficient system and also maximize value for the customers. So that quality industry standards are set up by the firms competing in the existing market. (Health Care Industry Report, 2014).
References
Health Care Industry Report, (2014). New Horizons: voyage to Value. Ernst & Young LLP. New York. Available at: http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-new-horizons-health-care-industry-report-2014/$FILE/ey-new-horizons-health-care-industry-report-2014.pdf
Meyers. Arlen, (2014). Healthcare: A competitive analysis. Medical practice Insider. Available at: http://www.medicalpracticeinsider.com/blog/competitive-analysis
Moritz. Paul, (2015). America’s new healthcare economy: 3 trends to watch. Fortune Insiders. Available at: http://fortune.com/2015/01/21/americas-new-healthcare-economy-3-trends-to-watch/
Sena. Matt, (2017). Healthcare Industry Analysis 2017 – Cost & Trends. FranchiseHelp Holding LLC. Available at: https://www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/healthcare-industry-report/
Puhl. Nicole and Woulfe. Jenny, (2008). Healthcare Sector Report. AMP. Available at: http://www.amcp.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=13208