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BUSI 528: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING FOR HEALTH
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Abstract
The Bay Area Medical Practice is focusing on the next 5-year strategic plan based on an
analysis they performed which has determined that 40% of its patient base is composed of baby
boomers. Because of the large percentage of baby boomers, the United States healthcare system
is requiring a shift from reactive/symptomatic healthcare to preventative healthcare to increase
efficiency and decrease healthcare costs (Cangelosi et al., 2022). Demographic trends suggest
that by 2030 all baby boomers will be over the age of 65 (D’Ambrosio et al., 2019). Focusing on
supporting the baby boomers with preventative healthcare and long-term services and supports
by utilizing the Four P’s marketing strategy, the Bay Area Medical Practice will be successful in
supporting their patient base.
Keywords: Four P’s, baby boomers, preventative healthcare, support, efficiency, healthcare cost,
long-term, marketing strategy, strategic plan.
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Introduction
The concept of Marketing Mix is defined as a group of variables that are controllable
than an organization can use to affect a buyer’s response to a product or service (Thabit &
Raewf, 2018). Berkowitz (2022) describes the Four P’s as a marketing strategy that an
organization should use to “develop a product, determine the price customers are willing to pay,
identify what place is most convenient for customers to purchase the product or access the
service, and promote the product to customers to let them know it is available” (p. 7). Product, or
service, represents goods, services, or ideas offered by an organization (Berkowitz, 2022). Price
explores what customers are willing to pay for a service (Berkowitz, 2022). The third p, place,
focuses on the way the service is distributed by an organization for use by consumers
(Berkowitz, 2022). And the fourth, p, promotion, involves any way of informing the marketplace
that an organization has developed a service to meet consumer needs (Berkowitz, 2022).
Boomers aspire to control their independence. They like to have the choice of their living
arrangements that allow them the ability to live at home, promotes life satisfaction and
stimulation, provides coordinated and preventative health care, affordable healthcare, the right to
die with dignity, a life that remains meaningful and connected to their community (D’Ambrosio
et al., 2019). Baby boomers do not want to see their savings depleted by spending it on age-
related support and high cost living arrangements (D’Ambrosio et al., 2019). The Bay Area
Medical Practice should utilize this market strategy by focusing on marketing towards the baby
boomer population as it makes up 40% of their patient base.
Marketing Strategy
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BUSI 528: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING FOR HEALTH
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The Bay Area Medical Practice should focus on the product, which is the increased need
for expensive long-term care for chronic diseases found in the baby boomer population which
include heart failure, angina, myocardial infarction, hyper/hypotension, stroke, diabetes, transient
ischemic attacks, cancer, chronic lung disease, asthma, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis,
osteoporosis, serious eye trouble, depression, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, memory problems,
and kidney disease (Stafford & Kuh, 2018). The Bay Area Medical Practice can support the baby
boomer patient base by providing specialty doctors who focus on the chronic conditions
experienced by this population. The practice can also provide more appointments, either in office
or by telehealth to help provide the support for preventative health and chronic disease needs.
Price has been a topic of concern in the healthcare industry for some time. For baby
boomers with chronic diseases requiring long term care, healthcare costs can be particularly
expensive. “The high cost of these long-term care services and supports acts as impediment that
is determining Boomers’ decisions regarding their future” (D’Ambrosio et al., 2019, p.14). Baby
boomers with chronic conditions that have insurance or Medicare should have support when it
comes to pricing. However, the Bay Area Medical Practice should ensure they have in-network
providers and specialists for the boomer patient base to prevent unexpected out of pocket costs.
When it comes to baby boomers who need long term care, Medicare does not provide any
support (D’Ambrosio et al., 2019). “Care has to be paid with private funds or funds have to be
depleted to qualify for Medicaid. National spending on long-term services and supports was
$310 billion in 2013, with Medicaid covering 51% of total expenditures followed by another
public out-of-pocket spending and other private insurance” (D’Ambrosio et al., 2019, p. 21). The
practice can provide preventative testing that is free to the public on occasion to help provide
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BUSI 528: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING FOR HEALTH
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testing needed to catch disease earlier on to help decrease healthcare costs on potential long-term
care in the future.
The place in which long-term care can be located is in-home or in an institutional setting.
Preventative care measures would be performed in an outpatient facility provided by the Bay
Area Medical Practice. “The desires of baby boomers for location of long-term services and
supports should direct the service delivery systems that support them” (D’Ambrosio et al., 2019).
A study performed in Minnesota suggested that baby boomers would prefer a system where
public dollars are used to provide care at home rather than in a nursing home (D’Ambrosio et al.,
2019). Studies suggest that independence is the most important living arrangement they aspire to
have, with friends and family close by, with privacy, and easy access to healthcare (D’Ambrosio
et al., 2019). The Bay Area Medical Practice could provide the service of home health to support
their baby boomer patient base and provide them with the privacy and independence they need to
function on their own. They can also support this patient base by providing preventative care
services to prevent many of the chronic diseases baby boomers are prone to having thus keeping
them from needing long-term care.
The Bay Area Medical Practice can promote these services by utilizing a partnering
hospital facility to help refer patients and educate them on the services they provide for
preventative care and long-term care. The practice can provide in-network providers and
specialists all under one roof to staff from the practice can inform their patients via phone calls
and pamphlets about new services they are providing. Services that are not covered by insurance
or Medicare could be incentivized by a tax credit to family caregivers to alleviate the burden or
nursing homes or in-home health care.
Biblical Integration
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BUSI 528: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING FOR HEALTH
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Integrating biblical principles with the marketing mix in healthcare can provide a values-
based approach to healthcare marketing. Matthew 10:8 states “health the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give” (NIV<
2020, p. 343). This verse emphasizes the importance of offering quality healthcare products and
services with a spirit of generosity and service. While healthcare is a business, it should be also
viewed as a mission to heal and help those in need. Psalm 127:1 states “unless the Lord builds
the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand
watch in vain” (NIV, 2020, p. 125). Healthcare organizations must choose strategic locations for
healthcare facilities that consider the well-being and accessibility of the community. They must
ensure that healthcare services contribute to the overall betterment of the community, in line with
the verse’s message of divine purpose.
Conclusion
The Bay Area Medical Practice must focus on understanding the expectations of the baby
boomer generation as they age. If not, the long-term services and supports systems will remain a
homeostatic system that is unaffordable and non-supportive of the baby boomer self-
determination and independence (D’Ambrosio et al., 2019). “Many procedural and economic
strategies are still geared toward relocating boomers into congregate living arrangements that do
not support independence and self-reliance” (D’Ambrosio et al., 2019, p. 23). The Bay Area
Medical Practice will be successful in their 5-year strategic marketing plan if they focus on
preventative and long term care for the baby boomer patient base.
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Resources
Barker, K. L. (2020). Niv study bible. Zondervan.
Berkowitz, E. N. (2022). Essentials of Health Care Marketing. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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https://doi.org/10.1108/ijphm-04-2021-0042
D’Ambrosio, J., Faul, A., Fields, M., & Cotton, S. (2019). Baby boomer long-term services and
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Stafford, M., & Kuh, D. (2018). Expectations for future care provision in a population-based
cohort of baby-boomers. Maturitas, 116, 116–122.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2018.08.004
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