Competition in Healthcare in Czech Republic With Focus on Surgery

Health care market in comparison to other fields is significantly specific. Clients of health care are often not able to judge the quality of the provided care and they focus more on external attributes of the system. Competition in the health care system is controversial to a certain extent, but it is necessary at the same time. It creates a permanent pressure on the increase of efficiency. The aim of this paper is to specify the competition in health care with focus on surgery in the Czech Republic. The current situation in healthcare in European countries in context of basic macroeconomics indicators will be described. The competition of health care market in the Czech Republic will be analysed and case study of chosen surgery clinic in the Czech Republic will be stated. In relation to the goal of this paper, the attention will aim in particular at the external environment and competitive forces in this sector. Within the case study the analysis of external environment, Porter's Model and SWOT analysis will be described. In general, there are highly-qualified surgical care specialists in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, research and development in this field is supported and the same applies to interdisciplinary cooperation. Yet, there are currently several problems, e.g. some specialists with sceptical views and no interest in further qualification and care, insufficient capacity of operation rooms and the absence of some segments of health care or their dependence.