A healthcare technology management tool for public-private partnership projects

Abstract

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been found as an alternative service delivery model to traditional procurement. The South Africa government has invested in conducting PPP feasibility studies for identified healthcare facilities in the country. Inconsistencies between the populace’s needs, the healthcare built infrastructure and healthcare technologies is found as a challenge for healthcare services delivery. Similar to PPP concessions healthcare infrastructures are built to last for many years whilst healthcare needs and technologies evolve much quicker. This quick evolution therefore exacerbates the complexity of healthcare infrastructure delivery PPPs. On its mission to developing a framework that can be used to allocate risks in healthcare technology PPPs, this study examines project complexities and inherent risks associated with public-private partnerships. Literature on healthcare technology management processes and its intrinsic phases has also been studied. To further triangulate data obtained through literature reviews, more data on the subject matter has been collected through interviews. Personnel from South African institutions that have been procured through PPPs has been sampled for the interviews. The study has found PPPs as projects with substantive detail and dynamic complexities. The feasibility study does simplify the detail complexities to a certain degree; however, there are dynamic complexities for future uncertainties. PPP projects are further found to be too difficult to manage when using traditional project management tools. The theoretical study revealed a needs analysis, acquisition planning, acquisition, and asset management as the main processes that are involved in healthcare technology management. The developed framework therefore recommends how healthcare technology management risks must be assigned between the partners.