Delivery of Audiology Services: Differentiation in an Evolving Health Care Marketplace

My very good friend is an attorney whose practice includes representing banks during bankruptcy proceedings and credit disputes. Recently he explained how his practice works, and of interest were the many external factors that impact his business, including consolidation within the banking and legal industries, regulations imposed by government agencies, the challenge of getting reimbursed for services provided, the cost and red tape in providing health insurance for employees, and the ever expanding role of technology. He also lamented that each of these factors was constantly changing and that keeping up with all the changes was a job unto itself.

If I did not know he was an attorney, I would swear he was talking about the issues facing health care in general, and audiology practice specifically. The discussion provided the perspective that the evolutionary forces that impact audiology and the delivery of audiologic care are not unique in the world. But both law practices and audiology practices are businesses, so it is not surprising that when considered from a business perspective, similar issues exist. Success in either law or audiology requires balancing the delivery of services today, while keeping abreast of the external forces that will impact the business tomorrow. One key factor that seems to underlie success—in law, business, health care, or audiology—is to be sufficiently vigilant to be able to predict when change in a business model is necessary.

Within the context of the evolutionary (and revolutionary) forces that impact an audiology practice is the need to differentiate oneself from other providers. Differentiation is defined as the effort to make one's practice stand out as a unique value to patients when compared with the competition. Unique value can be delivered through specialized services or products, a distinctive way of delivering services, or a remarkable pricing structure. In this edition of Seminars in Hearing, the authors provide examples of the ways in which a practice can deliver unique value. Amyn Amlani provides the consumer's perspective of value, Brian Taylor discusses the option of providing interventional audiology services, Stephanie Sjoblad and Debbie Abel provide a model for itemization of services, and Ian Windmill and colleagues from the University of Mississippi Medical Center discuss a shift from appointment-based charges to charges based on the complexity of the patient.

External factors such as the Affordable Care Act, the rise of personal sound amplification products and hearables, the expansion of vertical integration within hearing care delivery, and the growing perspective of the necessity to adopt a patient-centered approach to hearing care all impact the delivery of hearing care. To adapt to these changes, the sharing of ideas becomes even more important for success. Hopefully the concepts shared within this edition of Seminars will assist practices in developing their own unique strategy for adapting to the external forces that shape the delivery of hearing care.