Concierge Medical Care

Use of different marketing techniques is a valuable strategy of increasing patient volume while working to fully satisfy the patients. This involves targeting new patients including low income earners, middle class and individuals with a high social status in the community ("Increase referrals intelligently and boost access to specialist advice," 2013). ASC growth and expansion is contributed by the clients as they increase the profit margin. Targeting only the high income earners reduces the number of clients visiting the outpatient program since low income earners are barred by the cost. Targeting also includes creating different divisions within ASC that have the capacity to treat a variety of illnesses.

This paper pertains to the marketing of Health Care Services and provides the steps and history of marketing in health care and the effects of marketing on the health care delivery system from 1950 to 1990. It introduces the health care consumers and their role in the marketing process as well as the factors that influence consumer behavior. These factors influence the success of marketing in health care. It also provides the requirements for successful marketing and current techniques and strategies used by health care organizations.

Nonprofit hospitals have become a common characteristic of the hospital sector because they can be found across the country because of their presence in almost every corner, they never decline to provide treatment, and offer several community-based health programs. On the contrary, the for-profit health facilities are regarded as the corporate model of health care services as they seek to make profit first. They enjoy huge capital that enables them to develop state-of-the-art facilities and purchase the latest clinical technologies.

According to the American Hospital Association the cost of equipment, services, and information services has risen drastically. A huge problem for hospitals now is that there has been an enormous increase in patients who have Medicare or Medicaid. The Hospital Association states that “60% of all admissions. Neither program fully reimburses the cost of hospital care.” Not only is the hospital not getting paid the full amount through the health insurance, but they have also seen a jump in people who do not have insurance and cannot pay for their hospital expenses this averages out to about six percent of hospital expenses. Hospitals must assume these costs as a part of their charity pay. These costs are then calculated and increase the costs of health care for people who pay for it, in order to cover these costs.

The organization provides the usual array of inpatient services expected in a moderate-sized community hospital. A local nursing home and retirement community is for sale, and the organization is considering the purchase of that agency. There is a regional hospital that is trying to establish a statewide hospital network. There is a local county health department that provides some clinic services, primarily for the uninsured.

America’s health care system does not permit everyone to have complete access of all the necessary health care services. This is based on social inequality. Since America began, the country was always divided in some way. The most common and well-known division was separating the rich and the poor. Social inequality meant that one group (the rich) were the dominant ones, while the other (the poor) had a lower status in the country. It is noticeable that the rich have more privileges than the poor. It reflects on money and social status. The rich are considered the upper social class and the poor are considered the underclass. In the health care system, the upper class has absolute access to some of the finest health services in America. Whereas, the underclass

In the current U.S. system the free market prevails and companies, in this case, major insurance providers “compete” for business. This competitive business approach should in theory drive costs down. For some reason, however, an argument can be made that it has produced the opposite result in profiteering. The nation’s largest insurer, UnitedHealth, boasted over a 10 percent revenue increase in 2013 according to Forbes (2013). Health insurance affordability contributes to the disparity in access to health care, as evidenced by the fact that there are millions that are still uncovered. A greater majority of certain minorities lack both health insurance and the financial resource to seek out either health care or insurance. While insurance companies reap huge profits the percent of private sector companies offering health insurance has dropped to less than 50 percent (Kaiser, 2013). There is decidedly a lack of coordination of care for this at risk population as well, since treatment is rendered sporadically and with continuously changing providers. The last major challenge is that of improving the quality of health care. According to a 2010 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), an estimated 13.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stay and an additional 13.5 percent experienced a temporary

A major change is occurring in the healthcare system as the United States continues to move toward enhancing patient care quality and access while also decreasing cost. This significant transformation is driven by a variety of forces, including changes in managed care, a shift from pay for service to pay for quality, and ever-evolving client characteristics. This paper aims to discuss each of these factors and the ways in which they make this major transformation a difficult one for the nation to undergo.

The Anatomy of Care further extends into the marketing aspects of healthcare, relating its problems into familiar themes. Some of these themes include the gaps model of service, dimensions of quality, services marketing and themes outlined in the book, If Disney Ran Your Hospital. It is necessary to discuss the relationship between the themes and issues in the interactive game in order to gain a better understanding of the patient experience. With that being said, experience is the marketing and it is imperative to give patients and family members patient-centered care to allow for the best experience possible.

Marketing has become so prominent in health care today because the health care system is more and more resembling a business. There are many functions to be performed and many complex and sophisticated skills involved. There has been so much growth and competition that health care is advertised and marketed like any other product.

Apart from the Affordable Care Act, there has been increased government and court involvement in the determination of how healthcare issues are run, like the recent denial of the nonprofit tax exemption status to some hospitals in Chicago (Bergen 2). These hospitals, which include the Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Prentice Women’s Hospital, are known to provide important healthcare services to patients who cannot afford to pay the expensive costs in private hospitals (Bergen 2). These unfavorable healthcare policies among others are bound to be more frequent and the resultant problems may promote the emergence of other bigger ones unless immediate action is taken.

The crucial human need of health care has been transformed in the United States into an item that benefits a few individuals to the detriment of numerous others. For example, in the not so distant past, a youthful Ohio lady named Trina Bachtel, who was having well-being issues while pregnant, attempted to get help at a neighboring facility. Shockingly, she had already looked for consideration at the same facility while uninsured and had an extensive unpaid equalization. The center would not see her again unless she paid $100 every visit — which she did not have. Inevitably, she looked for

The concept of health services marketing is centered on “the analysis, planning, implementation, and control of carefully formulated programs designed to promote voluntary exchanges of values with target markets with the purpose of achieving organizational objectives (Longest et al. 2000, p 358). The marketing department of any health care organization requires knowledge of the current and future needs and desires of the target market, which will allow strategic planners to determine services and products that can be offered. An assessment of the target markets

Hospitals and health systems in the U.S. are experiencing a remarkable transformation in their business models directed from numerous influences that are projected to ultimately turn the industry around. Pressures include providers troubled with the quantity of services they are responsible for, to providers who concentrate on presenting high-cost services that give emphasis to sustaining healthy populations (Dunn & Becker, 2013).

The purpose of this assignment is to read and review the case study. Then discuss your assessment of Shouldice Hospital 's marketing challenges, as well as presenting your ideas for how the hospital can best manage those challenges. The assignment will contain the answer of the following questions: