In light of the proposed bill to ban advertisements for healthcare organizations in Vermont, one way for Putney County Hospital to protect their patient base is to continue to build and foster its relationship with members of the community. This can be done by strengthening doctor-patient relationships and by holding community service programs (Brenner, 1994) that will allow the hospital’s staff to directly interact with members of the community. Whether the bill gets passed or not, this will allow the hospital to keep the community members informed about its services. By engaging in such relationship-building activities even before the bill gets passed, the hospital will have already gained the community members’ trust so much so that they will no longer seek the services of other hospitals. In the same manner, engaging in these efforts after the bill is passed will allow the hospital to still keep the community updated on the goings-on in the hospital through the hospital staff’s frequent interaction with them. This will not formally be a form of advertisement, yet it can still promote the hospital’s services through word of mouth.
In the meantime, however, with marketing efforts now being more closely scrutinized, Putney County Hospital should ensure that their advertisements are good advertisements in that they should be informative and provide only factual information instead of bashing other hospitals (Dunlop, 2010). Putney County Hospital should ensure that its advertisements inform the public of how the organization can be of service to them. It should provide them with information on the options that they have, so that they may be able to make the right decisions on what medical services they need and what healthcare provider would best suit their needs and lifestyle. By doing this, the legislators might realize that hospital advertisements are helpful for the public and that they do not have the same nature as the advertisements of commercial products, which can sometimes be deceiving.
In the same regard, when interviewed by the newspaper, Mary should cite that she is against the bill. She should explain the benefits of advertising not only for healthcare organizations but also for the public and what can happen should advertising be banned for healthcare organizations. Clearly, the legislators are not aware of how advertisements empower the public by enabling them to make sound choices regarding their health and how depriving them of such information will be a disservice to them. Moreover, by explaining the advantages and disadvantages of advertising, Mary would be able to help raise public awareness, in turn enabling her to get the public’s support on preventing the bill from getting enacted. As well, by explaining how advertisements can increase competition and lower costs and how they will prevent people from seeking medical services from hospitals outside the state, which would result in financial losses for the state, Mary might be able to appeal to the legislators who proposed the bill and get them to change their minds.
In summary, the banning of advertisements for hospitals in Vermont is a serious matter that both legislators and health organizations should address and carefully consider. Not only can it result in potential financial losses for the state and the healthcare organizations; it can also make for people who are ignorant of their healthcare rights, privileges, and choices.
References
Brenner, E. (1994, August 14). Advertising's role in health care. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/14/nyregion/advertising-s-role-in-
health-care.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.
Dunlop, D. (2010, March 11). Vermont lawmakers consider ban on hospital advertising.
Retrieved from http://thehealthcaremarketer.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/vermont-
lawmakers-consider-ban-on-hospital-advertising/.
