Abstract
Healthcare sector in the United States has undergone significant changes over the last decade, particularly during recent global recession. As a result, the intensity of competition has greatly increased the U.S healthcare industry. Hospitals and physicians rely extensively on marketing efforts so as to attract more patients and thereby enhance their revenue growth. Regardless of the negative impacts of healthcare marketing, it can assist the country’s healthcare sector to improve its overall patient outcomes in the long-term.
Introduction
Currently, the US healthcare industry is undergoing significant shifts as US people are increasingly concerned about their health today. One of the major visible changes in the country’s healthcare sector is that nowadays employees tend to find healthcare independent of their employers. Currently healthcare companies have to strive a lot to retain their customers. In an effort to cope with this situation, today healthcare marketers take intense efforts to understand consumer preferences, to develop appropriate products, and to design marketing programs that are able to align customer insights with the firm’s performance. This paper will provide an in-depth analysis of the concept of marketing in healthcare and critically evaluate different views about this healthcare practice.
Marketing in Healthcare
Giving emphasis to building successful and sustainable healthcare organizations, today healthcare professionals rely greatly on different strategic marketing activities so as to meet the needs and wants of their customers(patients). In order to meet this goal, healthcare marketers pay specific attention to their products, services, location, and pricing while framing marketing strategies. The practice of marketing in healthcare would be successful only if the healthcare marketer maintains an in-depth understanding of his target market (end customers or ideal patients) and the potential ways to communicate to them. Many healthcare professionals are of the view that they cannot survive the current stiff competition in the healthcare industry unless they engage in the practice of healthcare marketing. Today patients have potential access to information regarding quality, cost, and competitiveness of various healthcare providers. In this context, it has become particularly necessary for healthcare professionals to influence patients by strategically planning and executing effective marketing campaigns.
Today, people give more importance to the words of real life customers or users than promotional campaigns including television ads. Realizing this shift in patient attitude, healthcare professionals are increasingly communicating the testimonials of their satisfied patients to the target audience. In addition, the practice of employing digital marketing, particularly social media marketing, in healthcare is growing these days as healthcare marketers have identified the potential of social media. Reports indicate that nearly 75 percent of the American population uses social media as of 2015 (Social Networking Fact Sheet, Pew Research Center).In order to take advantages of the potential influence of social media on US people, healthcare professionals rely greatly on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter to communicate their marketing messages to the target audience. It is observed that the vast majority of patients who are diagnosed with a particular illness browse the internet to gather maximum information about their condition. In addition, many of them search on the web to find hospitals or health providers that are effective at treating a particular illness. Therefore, today healthcare marketers take great efforts to strengthen their online presence and thereby communicate their marketing message to a broader audience at cheaper costs.
Background
The origin and evolution of the concept of marketing in healthcare are dated back to only a few decades. In 1950s, most of the physicians and hospitals believed that it was inappropriate and even unethical to promote marketing (printed advertising) in healthcare. They thought that healthcare is not an industry like manufacturing or construction, and hence marketing would hurt the values of healthcare ethics. The health sector’s attitude to marketing was not much different in 1960s too. However, the growth of media relation in the healthcare sector slightly influenced the concept of marketing in healthcare. During this period, some media reports focused on answering questions about patients’ conditions, giving specific reference to health experts’ opinions. By 1970s, there were notable changes in this field as some health providers made simple attempts to advertise health services. In addition, there was an emerging trend of promoting marketing research in the area of healthcare. Marketing efforts of healthcare institutions were officially recognized in a conference organized by the American Hospital Association (AHA) on this topic during the mid-1970s. It may be identified as a milestone in the history of marketing in healthcare. By the beginning of 1980s, the idea of marketing in healthcare began becoming popular, and hospitals realized the fact that healthcare marketing is a great strategy to generate more revenues and to increase the market share. Hence, many hospitals focused specifically on marketing directly to consumers so as to enhance the popularity of services such as cosmetic surgery and obstetrics. In 1990s, there was a trend that health organizations consolidated into larger systems characterized with broader resources and more erudite management. To reap the benefits of this positive change, many executives entered the healthcare from outside the industry with the objective of devoting their expertise to the growth of health organizations.
Although marketing in healthcare has become a common practice since the turn of the 21st century, healthcare executives identified the fact that healthcare is different from other industries, and hence unique marketing philosophies and approaches have to be defined for promoting the practice of marketing in the healthcare sector. For instance, the demand for many health products/services is relatively unpredictable and the end user may not necessarily be the target of the marketing campaign. At this juncture, marketing executives were assigned with the challenging task of developing appropriate marketing strategies for promoting healthcare products/services. Since healthcare is a key concern for the US government, it has imposed strict restrictions on all activities associated with marketing in healthcare. Therefore, marketing executives are required to strictly comply with federal and state government policies while promoting healthcare products/services. Currently, the practice of marketing in healthcare has become a very common trend and people pay close attention to advertisements and other marketing campaigns before choosing health products/services. In other words, the healthcare sector has been shifted from a product/service-oriented culture to customer-oriented culture. As a result, the U.S healthcare sector has become increasingly competitive over the last two decades and healthcare marketers are expected to give specific emphasis to the changing needs of customers so as to increase their market share.
Thesis statement
Regardless of the growing need of marketing in the healthcare industry, many people argue that this practice can have adverse impacts on patient safety and final health outcomes. An in-depth analysis of the current health scenario makes it clear that the merits of marketing in healthcare can outweigh its demerits in the long-term provided that healthcare marketers operate in strict compliance with government policies and ethical principles.
Critical Evaluation
Obviously, factors like insurance policies, cost structures, and reimbursement laws have notably changed in the United States over the last decade; and, the country’s economy is yet to recover the shock of the global financial crisis 2008-09. Over these days, healthcare providers have recognized the fact that medical field is not recession-proof unlike what they thought before. In addition, patients are reluctant to seek care these days either because they do not have an insurance policy to cover their health expenses adequately or they struggle to afford their deductibles. To illustrate, the U.S Census Bureau reported that approximately 47 million Americans aged under 65 lacked insurance coverage in 2008; and, those Americans were facing the issue of out of pocket expenses and hence they depended very rarely on healthcare services (Importance of Marketing Your Healthcare, 2009).In the Cost Survey conducted by the MGMA, it was identified that “between 2006 and 2008, the number of procedures dropped 9.9% and the number of patients dropped 11.3%” (Importance of Marketing Your Healthcare,2009).As a result, the revenue models that have been adopted by healthcare organizations for many years are less likely to work anymore. Economists opine that marketing in healthcare would be a potential strategy for healthcare providers to maintain their revenues levels in times of global economic turmoil. Therefore, it becomes inevitable for physicians to design and implement coherent marketing strategies to attract and retain patients and to strengthen the relationship between their staff and patients. Since there has been a shift towards a service-oriented culture in healthcare, it is also vital for other health providers such as device companies to redesign their operational policies so as to meet the needs of customers. An efficient marketing strategy can assist patients to identify what they need and to make well-informed decisions about their healthcare. Therefore, in the context of fast changing trends and practices in the healthcare sector, marketing can really benefit healthcare providers to improve their client base and revenues.
Another advantage of marketing in healthcare is that it can assist health organizations to be established in the industry. With great marketing efforts, a health organization can become easily recognizable in the industry. It is identified that well-designed marketing campaigns and thereby ease recognition in the industry can benefit health organizations to attract talented healthcare staff including nurses and technicians without much difficulty (Scrivner, 2015). Maintaining a well-developed website seems to be a good strategy for physicians/healthcare organizations to strengthen their online presence in a fast growing virtual community. In addition, healthcare professionals can attain greater visibility and keep connected with their patients by posting blogs or updating contents on their website. Pages like ‘frequently asked questions’ may be beneficial for healthcare professionals to keep in touch with patients and to attract more patients. If patients are convinced about the reliability and authenticity of the information provided, they would like to keep in contact with the physician/health organization in the long-term. Likewise, marketing in healthcare is important to keep patients informed of the recent healthcare products/services launched into the market. It is obvious that most of the patients are less likely to be up-to-date about the recent changes or development in the healthcare sector. At this juncture, the practice of healthcare marketing can assist healthcare professionals to communicate new vital health information to patients and thereby generate increased revenues constantly.
Another potential feature of healthcare marketing is that it may benefit patients who are not familiar with advanced healthcare technologies and practices. For instance, many people may not be informed of the treatment options available for a ligament tear.They would get confused when they face such a medical situation that can cause long-term health problems. Under such circumstances, the concept of marketing in healthcare would assist patients to obtain comprehensive understanding of the various treatment options available to them, and therefore this practice can address patients’ health concerns effectively. The practice of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising (DTCPA) comes under the scope of healthcare marketing, and The DTCPA helps to keep patients informed of the benefits and risks of using a particular drug (Ventola, 2011). In the current era, people can easily compare different healthcare services provided by physicians/health organizations, and hence healthcare providers are forced to remain competitive in order to survive the stiff industry competition. Undoubtedly, the practice of healthcare marketing can assist healthcare providers to enhance their competitiveness in the industry and to obtain an edge over their rivals. However, it is important for healthcare providers not to think about marketing from a supplier’s viewpoint because healthcare is entirely different from other industries. Healthcare marketers are advised to focus specifically on building patient truest and improving care quality instead of spending frivolously on competing with other health organizations.
However, the practice of marketing in healthcare has a number of demerits too. The main reason is that healthcare has been traditionally considered as one of the necessities of human life, and therefore many people believe that marketing in healthcare is unethical from a humane perspective. Another disadvantageous feature of healthcare marketing is that healthcare providers simply rely on marketing efforts to generate more revenues instead of improving the quality of care they deliver (Burnham, 2012).Evidently, this practice would contribute only to the marketer’s personal financial gains rather than enhancing patient outcomes. In addition, extensive focus on healthcare marketing campaigns may add to the operating costs of healthcare providers, who in turn simply pass such additional costs to the end customers (patients). Therefore, marketing in healthcare leads to higher healthcare costs in the United States thus leading to a situation where people find accessing health care difficult. In addition, when health organizations and physicians invest a quality time, expertise, and resources in extensive marketing campaigns, they cannot pay proper attention to their core responsibility (patient care). Opponents of healthcare marketing claim that patients should obtain the opportunity to choose their healthcare providers simply on the ground of quality of care delivered by them instead of the attractiveness of their advertising campaigns. Finally, some healthcare marketers focus on the ‘fear factor’ to convince patients, and this is really unethical from a moral viewpoint.
Conclusion
References
Burnham, A. (Feb 17, 2012). Market-based healthcare is the wrong prescription for the NHS. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/17/market-healthcare-nhs-bill
Importance of Marketing Your Healthcare Practice in a Slow Economy. (Nov 17, 2009.). Healthcare IT Insider. Retrieved from http://www.healthcareitinsider.com/marketing/importance-of-marketing-your-healthcare-practice-in-a-slow-economy/
Scrivner, M. (Nov 30, 2015). Why healthcare marketing needs to catch up. Chief Marketer. Retrieved fromhttp://www.chiefmarketer.com/healthcare-marketing-needs-catch/
Social Networking Fact Sheet. PewResearchCenter. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/
Ventola, C. L. (2011). Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising: Therapeutic or Toxic? Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 36(10), 669–684.
