How the logics of the market, bureaucracy, professionalism and care are reconciled in practice: an empirical ethics approach

In the Netherlands, the for-profit sector has gained a substantial share of nursing home care within just a few years. The ethical question that arises from the growth of for-profit care is whether the market logic can be reconciled with the provision of healthcare. This question relates to the debate on the Moral Limits of Markets (MLM) and commodification of care. Firstly, we construct a theoretical framework from existing literature; this theoretical framework differentiates four logics: the market, bureaucracy, professionalism, and care. Secondly, we follow an empirical ethics approach; we used three for-profit nursing homes as case studies and conducted qualitative interviews with various stakeholders. The for-profit nursing home sector does embrace the logic of the market but reconciles it with other logics (i.e. logic of care and logic of professionalism). Importantly, for-profit nursing homes have created an environment in which care professionals can provide person-oriented care, thereby reconciling the logic of the market with the logic of care.