Essentialsof Health Care Marketing
Barriersto Entry and Exit
Althoughbeing a healthcare specialist is a sacred and responsible role, animportant aspect of it is the business. Any input that physicians putinto their practice should relay more output so that the ventureseems worth wile. Thus, when considering entry and exit, severalfactors come into play. Most of these factors are the barriers thatthese specialists are likely to face. They can range from economicconstraints, legal issues to even ethical problems (Berkowitz, 2010).
Thereare numerous challenges that a physician can face while attempting tostart a solo practice in internal medicine. For a physician toconsider going solo in internal medicine, they have to mainly focuson the economic influences. Would the specialist afford the necessarycapital required to start their own establishment? Would they be ableto pay for the equipment needed? And can they manage to pay for therequired personnel? Added to these challenges, the physician shouldalso be able to generate the output of funds to cover these costs andalso for their upkeep (Berkowitz, 2010). When planning to exit fromsolo practice, these specialists have to consider ethical issues. Bytheir exit, would they be leaving behind patients that require theirhelp? Such issues would require greatly affect a physician’sstrategy (Berkowitz, 2010).
Themain barrier for a company that might consider offering a health clubfacility in the same establishment would be obtaining permission fromthe building’s owner(s). This challenge would require fulfillmentof various protocols and regulations. These laws may make thisventure rather costly through payment of charges and paperwork(Berkowitz, 2010). While planning to exit from such a program, thecompany would have to consider the impact such a move would have onthe employees. The employees may be used to convenient and affordableservices and by removing this advantage, they may be affected(Berkowitz, 2010).
Entryfor a tertiary hospital that creates a coronary bypass program mayface significant inhibitions. The chief one could come throughcompetition. Another hospital could have established itself as thekey place to obtain such services thus adversely affecting this move.Another challenge could come from the cost of the equipment needed toensure that the program works accordingly (Berkowitz, 2010). Whenexiting, this program would face a major barrier whereby it couldtake away the business with it. Thus, removing itself afterestablishing a regular supply of patients that require these servicescould be detrimental (Berkowitz, 2010).
Complexityof Marketing “Creates” Needs
Althougha hallowed and sacred profession, healthcare bases its roots onbusiness. Thus, for a facility that provides such services to fullyfunction, it has to have a constant access to its consumers.Currently, there are many establishments that provide such amenities.This stage is where marketing comes in. such hospitals tend toadvertise the provisions they have so that they attract theconsumers. This luring should ideally focus on the consumer’s needsrather than their wants. Looking at this situation from such anangle, one would see the reason behind this approach (Berkowitz,2010). However, healthcare specialists tend to disagree with thispremise. Through marketing, customers begin to get attracted to thewants. This situation can make them tend to take the services thatthey do not require. It goes against all the codes of being aphysician since such hospitals gain more patients that come forservices they do not actually need. The basic means through whichthis process is achieved is by making the want to relate closely withthe need. Thus, consumers may feel obligated to take purchase thisservices so that they feel that they get the help they needed. Thisfallacy has been improved upon to the point where some healthprofessions use fraudulent symptoms to attract patients to theirfacilities. These actions bring a stain to the otherwise reveredfield of medicine since the main concern is monetary value and notthe improvement of the public’s health. Therefore, someprofessionals have concerns about the essence of marketing inhealthcare (Berkowitz, 2010).
ManagingHeart Disease Through the Precede- Proceed Model
ThePrecede- Proceed model attempts to not only look into the treatmentof heart diseases, but by various ways that this disease can beprevented. The reason for applying this model is to create ahealthier society. Prevention of cardiac issues is relatively easysince most of its instigators are mainly voluntarily done byindividuals. Therefore, the best approach is by changing people’slifestyles. The main influences come from economic, social andpolitical factors. The steps carried out using this model begins byfirst identifying the issue, which, is heart disease. The next stagewould be to determine the causes of this disease that includelifestyle and habits. These actions combine lack of exercise, typesof food that people eat and drug abuse. By tackling these negativebehaviors, cases of heart disease are likely to reduce. The thirdpart would be to offer working programs that can transform thesociety into lessening of these causes that bring the disease. Theprimary approach can be through campaigns that would educate thepublic on the dangers of their common practices. Centers can beestablished whereby more individuals can obtain more informationabout this condition and the best methods of dealing with it.Governmental policies can also help so that the prevention strategieswould work. This assistance can come from policies, funds and otherprograms that work towards prevention of heart disease. After settingup of all these plans and their implementation, an evaluation of theentire model should be done to ensure that the steps carried out areactually functioning. The HSO/HS governing should use this modelthrough lobbying for laws and regulations that would ensure thegovernment plays a crucial role in fighting this disease. They canuse the model to reach the society and ensure that every person knowsabout this problem and the major causes of it.
Elementsof Successful Marketing for a Health Care Organization
Thefirst sign that a health care organization has succeeded in itsmarketing is through professional referrals. Once a hospital hasestablished its niche in the medical field, most doctors would havealready read or heard about the establishment and the quality ofservice provided. This factor is more apparent in diseases thatrequire far more advanced treatment using specialists andsophisticated equipment. Thus, such facilities have a constant inflowof patients referred from other physicians that feel there might getbetter care at such a place. An example is a patient that suffersfrom malignant cancer. This patient can be recommended by theirdoctor to go to a specific health care establishment that has a moreseasoned oncologist or the necessary apparatus, which, are morelikely to help the patient. Such apparatus can be a machine that cantreat the cancer through radiotherapy. Thus, via ensuring that otherprofessionals in different facilities learn about the advantagesfound in this organization, successful marketing is accomplished. Thereason is because more patients with complicated cases will always besent to that hospital (Berkowitz, 2010).
Buildinga successful brand is another aspect that signifies successfulmarketing. A hospital that ensures it stands out from the rest isguaranteed to have more patients attending it. It is common knowledgethat private hospitals provide better services than the public ones.Also, teaching hospitals are seen to have better equipment than thenon-teaching ones. Looking at these factors, it becomes apparent howbrands can influence the number of patients every hospital receives.An example is a private hospital that also offers teaching services.Such an organization is likely to have built its brand since manypeople will visit the place for treatment and other services(Berkowitz, 2010).
Ahospital that has established a concrete method of internaladvertising can be considered to have successfully fulfilled itsmarketing strategies. Internal marketing works on ensuring that thealready known patients receive the best service so that they cancontinue coming back. Added to this, these patients can act asadvertisers by marketing the facility through word-of-mouth. Anexample is an organization that gave a patient with kidney failurequality treatment and services to the point that they had to referany person who asked them about places they could receive properhealth care (Berkowitz, 2010).
Ahealth care organization that is well known by people effectivelyused external marketing strategies such as the mainstream media andthe social media. Such hospitals are usually well known and peoplecan travel long distances just to get to them. An example is ahospital that has excellently applied external marketing to the pointthat a patient requiring a liver transplant would travel from adifferent country with their donor so that they can receive treatmentfrom the said hospital (Berkowitz, 2010).
References
Berkowitz,E. N. (2010). Essentialsof health care marketing.Jones & Bartlett Publishers.