Discussion 1, 2, 3..

How do you know where to go when you have a sudden illness, a toothache, heart palpitations, or if you just need a flu shot? If you are not established at a particular provider, you might consider the different facilities that you have seen marketed on billboards, heard about on the radio, or seen advertised in some other way. While not as prevalent as other products and services, marketing is actually a large part of a healthcare organization’s strategy.

Marketing, first and foremost, is about managing the exchanges between customers and a specific healthcare organization that provides specific services. Making sure customers know what services are available and where the services are available is an essential element of marketing.

For a healthcare organization, marketing can be thought of as a collection of activities to help the healthcare organization implement its strategy and achieve its goals and objectives. For instance, an organization may choose to reach new customers by developing new services, or it may appeal to existing customers in different ways to promote awareness about existing services.

Marketing and planning go together. This week you will be introduced to the concepts of marketing and business development as a means to implement organizational strategy, and the critical connection between strategic planning and marketing. You will also be introduced to the marketing process, key concepts of marketing, and the characteristics or major controllable factors of marketing activity/mix, the 4 P's: Product, Price, Place (distribution), and Promotion. You will analyze the promotion of a healthcare organization and evaluate the marketing message of a healthcare organization. Finally, you will identify terms and concepts related to marketing and business development.

Discussion: Healthcare Organization Promotion in Your Community

As with any other organization, once a product is developed by a healthcare organization it needs to be promoted to its target market. Promotion ensures that customers are aware of a product’s existence, availability, and scope.

Promotion can take many forms and is often tailored to the results of market analysis. Advertising is the most common form of promotion; however, promotion efforts may also include personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing. As you go about your day, make a deliberate effort to be aware of examples of promotion from healthcare organizations you may not otherwise have recognized. Try to understand the thought behind these efforts considering the concepts that have been discussed in recent weeks. Think about the impact these promotions have on you and your community.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review this week's Learning Resources.

• Refer back to the healthcare organization you selected in Week 2.

By Day 4

Post a comprehensive response to the following:

• Describe one of your healthcare organization's promotions (one of the 4 P's of marketing mix). Include a link to the example if available or attach an image or illustrations.

• Describe the marketing message and the target audience for that message.

• Explain how this promotion might reflect the strategic initiatives or marketing strategy of the healthcare organization.

• How do you think this promotion might reflect the effectiveness of the marketing message?

Read a selection of your colleagues' postings.

Required websites:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/02/13/seven-essential-inbound-marketing-strategies-for-healthcare/?sh=6ec2b341244a

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7887&context=atg

Health care organization selected in week 2

For this week’s discussion I selected Atrius Health in Massachusetts . Atrius Health is a not for profit, tax-exempt healthcare organization. The entity usually provides healthcare services for over 745,000 pediatric and adult patients in central and eastern Massachusetts (Atrius Health, n.d). Atrius Health has 30 healthcare practice locations, with over 715 healthcare providers and physicians along with approximately 425 clinicians. One of the aspects that have contributed to the overall success of the organization is their values, mission, and vision statements.

Atrius Health’s values include patient-centered care, quality, compassion, service, innovation, education, diversity, stewardship, integrity, and workplace (Atrius Health, n.d). Atrius Health’s vision statement is “transforming care to improve lives”. The organization’s mission statement is “we provide the right care with kindness and compassion every day for every person we serve”.

Atrius Health’s values are reflected in its mission and vision statements. One of the organization’s values is service. The company is always passionate about providing exceptional service to patients and their families. This value is reflected in the company’s vision which focuses on transforming care to enhance lives. The other value is innovation. Atrius Health is dedicated in innovating better processes and procedures to enhance health. This value is reflected on the organization’s mission which focuses on improving lives. Another value is compassion. Atrius Health is dedicated to treating its patients with empathy, respect, and understanding. This value is reflected in the organization’s mission which focuses on providing the right care with compassion and kindness for every individual they serve.

I will recommend Atrius Health to include patient-physician connections in their values, vision, and mission statements. Effective and proper physician-patient connections will influence healthcare outcome by enhancing patient satisfaction, which will boost patients understanding, hence, contributing to higher and better delivery of healthcare services.

References:

Atrius Health. (n.d). About Us. Retrieved from: https://www.atriushealth.org/about-us

Atrius Health. (n.d). About Us: Vision, Mission, and Values. Retrieved from: https://www.atriushealth.org/about-us/mission-and-vision#:~:text=Values%3A,with%20understanding%2C%20respect%20and%20empathy.