Journal of ambulatory care marketing最新文献

Rising consumer expectations for convenient, quality health care is forcing many hospitals to focus increasing attention to measuring consumer perception and satisfaction with the care provided. At the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, getting in close touch with the consumer has assumed a strategic position. As one part of the evolving Marketing Information System, a patient satisfaction tracking system is being designed to illicit patient feedback and hospital responses to service issues, assess patient satisfaction with various services, serve as a benchmark for evaluating changes in satisfaction over time, and provide necessary information for medical center planning, marketing and evaluation.

Common strategies employed by many organizations include designating certain suppliers as primary sources and targeting certain customers who are appealing competitively. Such selective strategies are appearing more frequently in the health care sector today. This paper examines the use of selective contracting by managed care programs to simultaneously increase control over costs (provider selection) and decrease risk (subscriber selection).

Numerous health care facilities, located in downtown metropolitan areas, now find themselves surrounded by a decaying inner-city environment. Consumers may perceive these facilities as "old," and catering to an "urban poor" consumer. These same consumers may, therefore, prefer to patronize more modern facilities located in suburban areas. This paper presents a case study of such a health care facility and how strategic planning and marketing research were conducted in order to identify market opportunities and new strategic directions.

This paper presents the findings of a cross-institutional study of health care concerns and activities of 18-25 year old college students. In general, the subjects tended to perceive themselves as quite healthy, and were not highly concerned about health issues. However, the subject group was not homogeneous. Therefore, this paper identifies three different segments of college students--the "Unconcerned" group, the "Worried" group, and the "Physical Image" group--and details their different attitudes, concerns, and behaviors.

A collection of statistical analysis procedures is applied to the task of estimating relative market shares among different healthcare plans under the offering of multiple options. The results are developed into an interactive spreadsheet for estimating market shares when consumer perceptions of plan features are modified through product redesign or communications strategies.

The purpose of this study was to use a qualitative research technique and define problems faced by one hospital that was attempting to increase demand for its emergency services. A telephone survey of 450 affluent and well-educated suburban residents was conducted to determine their perceptions of six major facilities. Topics included actual and preferred facility use by injury type, general perceptions concerning staff and facility, and other components of service quality. Results indicated that a variety of sociological, psychological, environmental, and situational factors interacted when the respondents formed attitudes concerning hospital emergency use and service. They were often uncertain of their real attitudes and conveyed varying opinions about the desirability or effectiveness of similar services. Health care providers should note these differences and modify the marketing mixes in a manner that best conveys their unit's competitive advantages. They could also benefit from using the qualitative research technique described in this paper and from adopting the marketing concept.