After listening to the podcast, "Keith Smith on Free Market Health Care", I noticed one main thing really stood out to me, and it was Keith Smith's goal to create the cheapest and best quality service for his patients. At his hospital, he made it clear that he wants his employers to always be honest and never perform any procedure that is not actually needed for a patient. Smith does not put up with people who are not honest in his hospital. He says in the podcast "What we do at the Surgery Center of Oklahoma is kick those people out. Because their affiliation with our facility--even their affiliation with us is damaging to our reputation" (24:50). In the podcast, Smith also talks about how his hospital tells their patients how much their procedure is going to cost right up front and the prices are much cheaper than other hospitals. They never perform a procedure that is not required so that they save the patients from having to pay so much and also are completely honest with the patients. Many patients love it and value it more than other hospitals. This is so interesting to me because I would assume most people would be afraid of going to a hospital with such low prices because it would seem to them like their staff is maybe uneducated or their surgeons aren't very good. At Smith's hospital, they are actually giving the patients much better quality care because they are being fully honest with them and they don't charge for more than what they are receiving. This aspect of Smith's hospital has had a really good effect on the patients. The cheaper prices make it possible for patients that don't have as much money to get the treatment they are needing. They are not only offering the cheapest prices but the best quality care because of the hospital's honesty, and they know they can trust it because of the hospital's good reputation. When Smith's hospital first opened up, it was weird for the patients to find out their bills were so much lower at his hospital compared to others, but then they realized why. The patients started to support Smith's hospital and grow its good reputation because they realized how much the employers cared about the patients' wants. In class, during discussions, something thing we talk about often is how important it is for the producer to provide something that the consumers will value greatly with prices they are willing to pay. Another thing we talked about in class is competition in the entrepreneurship world. It is important to know your competition and provide consumers with a better option than what your competition provides. The competition between hospitals is usually over prices, but because Smith's prices are so low and his quality is so high there is not much competition and patients love his hospital. The interaction between the patients and the high consumer value at such low prices that Smith's hospital provides is very positive. The patients that go to Smith's hospital are going there because it provides the best quality care at the lowest prices. "All of the business that we receive come through the door because people choose us and they want to be there" (18:27). Smit's main goal is to satisfy the wants of the consumers. He did not choose to add anything to his hospital unless it somehow benefited his patients. "Yeah we don't see how any of that translates to better patient care, so we just don't do any of that" (47:07). What I got from this podcast is that it is important to prioritize your consumers' wants and values over prices because as long as your consumers like you, you have a better chance at becoming a successful entrepreneur.
