506 Comp 2 Reflection

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University of Phoenix *

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506

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Marketing

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Jan 9, 2024

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docx

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Consumer Choice and Health Care Marketing Why is consumer choice important in health care marketing, and why is it especially important for medical tourism decisions? Consumer choice in relation to healthcare marketing is important because it helps healthcare providers determine what is important to patients. With consumer choice comes competition. Using competition correctly could lead to high quality outcomes, wholistic or patient centered care and increased patient satisfaction. Bucketing preferences and identifying where the provider is performing ahead of the competition would provide some target strategy points for marketing. Other performance measures that are important to consumer choice include cost savings, access, and treatment options. Consumer choice for medical tourism decisions is extremely important for healthcare marketing as there are countless options to obtain care as a medical tourist. According to the Allied Market Research, the net worth of the medical tourism market worldwide is estimated at $61.172 billion as of 2016 and is expected to increase to $165.3 billion by 2023 (Hwang, 2018). Medical tourism marketing would need to use the same information as above with a heavy tie to quality assurance & safety, positive health outcomes, international accreditation, cost, and location. Since there are higher health risks for patients interested in medical tourism, making quality metrics, patient outcomes and testimonial data available would be impactful in becoming the preferred choice for consumers. Which choice factors are most important to medical tourism consumers? Medical tourism growth has been seen the most in Asia. In a report “Estimates of the South Korea Medical Tourism Market and Expenditure to 2020,” Orbis Research presented that highly skilled professionals, advanced medical devices, and well-established infrastructures are the factors that contribute to the rapid growth of medical tourism in South Korea (Hwang, 2015). Financial incentives are likely the starting point for many medical tourists. Insurance comes with copays and deductibles as well as non-coverage for elective procedures, more often than not. Insurance agencies can also deny surgeries in lieu of non-surgical options that have a lower cost. Overall, a medical tourist uses many determining factors when choosing care and the most common are quality outcomes, privacy and safety, international accreditation, location and language, schedule availability, specialty treatment options and facility reputation (Singh, 2012). How successful is social media marketing for consumer choice for medical tourism? Social media can provide highly targeted communications at relatively low cost with a global reach (Amaro et al., 2016). This is important for medical tourism because social media can easily market towards consumer preferences while allowing instant communication regarding medical treatments as well as location. Many social media platforms have technology options for gathering preferences as well as data related to successful campaigns. Social media also helps overcome geographical and language barriers. The article “Applications of social media for medical tourism marketing: An empirical analysis” notes that marketing medical tourism via social media could be more effective with a few improvements. Those improvements include utilizing post-surgical satisfaction surveys, higher engagement by answering questions or responding to concerns, and promoting destination choice benefits. Other social media marketing could include online consultation booking, bill pay and reservations.

How well did medical tourism providers perform in terms of maintaining customer intimacy, customer involvement, interaction, and gathering customer insights? Online customer reviews have high influence over potential new customers. Customer engagement could be improved by posting patient success stories. The article noted it was rare to see patient testimonials and responses to patients comment posts during the study. Responding to patients questions or concerns would improve consumer intimacy by building a trusted relationship. Engaging patients in their questions and concerns provides the opportunity involve the patient in their own care by having the opportunity to provide education on procedures, side effects, desired outcomes, and discharge planning. While social media was used to market services, it was not used fully to study consumer involvement or interaction. Collecting and utilizing this data would provide insights to improvements and interventions that would benefit the program as a whole. Why are each of these elements important as part of the consumer decision-making process in this situation? Customer Intimacy - Understanding each individual’s reason or ‘why’ they chose this treatment option, knowing their support systems and individual concerns supports the patient in a holistic manner. This level of intimacy helps to build a trusted relationship which would influence patient choice. Customer Involvement - Involving patients in their care decisions also builds trust. By offering proactive and transparent communication about the process, timeline, and expectations the patient can make informed decisions. This also contributes to having a trusted relationship or partnership in care. Customer Interaction - All interactions the patient has with any staff can and will influence the patient’s choice. Customer service is crucial with all patient interactions. Customer Insights - Reviewing satisfaction surveys, online reviews, post-surgical outcomes survey and even surveys to potential patients that chose other providers would provide insights to enhance and improve the medical tourism business. Getting the patients trust is beneficial but keeping it is vital. Collaboration in Health Care What are some examples of these collaborative efforts by pharmaceutical companies (e.g., Accelerating Medicines Partnership ® )? The Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) focuses on developing new treatments in a shorter amount of time at a lower cost. The process from creation to market takes over 10 years and can cost more than $1 billion. That is also anticipating a successful trial and FDA approval. The AMP program with managing oversight from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health leverages their collaborative partners in a way that shares knowledge, expertise, and resources. Current projects include Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune disorders, heart failure, Parkinson’s, and schizophrenia. Pharmaceutical companies make up a majority of their industry partnerships to include Bayer, Merck, Novo, Novartis, Pfizer, Verily and many more. Working together towards a common goal makes their end results for increased efficiency, improved process and a higher number and effectiveness of new therapies realistic. What are some examples of the value of partnerships and collaborations in health care service systems? The COVID pandemic brought many challenges however the strong partnership and collaboration saved lives. For the first time a group of universities, private companies, government facilities, technology companies came together to form Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions & Vaccines (ACTIV). ACTIV stands as a

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