10-4 Project- Shady Acre Health Systems Analysis (2)

SAHS ANALYSIS 1

2

Shady Acres Healthcare System Analysis

Marketing

Shady Acres Healthcare System (SAHS), which was developed in early 1970’s, has a

wonderful reputation amongst the individuals it serves, as well as high employee satisfaction rates.

However, SAHS has suffered from a lack of marketing efforts, which has led to minimal

Even if SAHS does engage in some marketing, the lack of a strategic marketing plan leads to

unorganized and unmonitored promotional efforts that may be costing money without actually

being effective. A strategic marketing plan involves assessing the market, determining your target

audience, and selecting the most appropriate avenues to use for promoting your services. SAHS

must follow this marketing roadmap, then track which promotional efforts are generating the

highest amount of business (McQuerrey, 2020). This involves SAHS implementing formal

systems and methodology to analyze where its clientele is coming from; by doing so, SAHS can

conclude which marketing avenues are effective for its target audience and which ones should be

retired. Without methods for clientele tracing in place, SAHS may be investing in advertising that

isn’t generating business, while underutilizing other promotional avenues from which the

3

costs, and better saturate the market. Ultimately, a strong marketing strategy will result in higher

levels of brand awareness and recognition, consistent marketing efforts, improved customer

experience, and customer loyalty (Business Strategy, 2020).

Using a SMART framework will allow SAHS to create goals that are strategically planned,

concise, and trackable. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-

action must be taken beforehand in order to prepare for the mission. SAHS marketing goals should

also be relevant, meaning they align with the company’s values and long-term goals. If upon

deeper analysis it is determined that the goal doesn’t contribute toward grander, long-term goals,

then the company should rethink why it’s important and if it should be pursued or not. Goals must

also be time-based, which provides motivation and allows for prioritization. If time-based goals

aren’t being met within the designated timeframe, the goal may have been unrealistic or road-

blocked by certain obstacles. It’s critical to understand why a goal wasn’t met so the experience

can lead to improved strategic planning in the future (Indeed, 2021). f

Healthcare marketing teams must consider the 5 P’s while strategizing how to reach

external stakeholders: Patients, Physicians, Professional Healthcare Administrators, Payers, and

4

patients. Patients have more access to information and more discretion regarding plans,

contributions, medications, and specific health care providers. Healthcare marketers need to chop

through the noise to deliver easily understood messages (Mycek, 2015). Social media platforms

are a powerful tool to reach patients in 2022, as the majority of Americans have some form of

social media, whether it be Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. In fact, 42% of consumers seek

patients being empowered to make their own medical decisions, they must be ethically guided via

marketing strategies that are geared towards providing them with the most accurate and relevant

information.

quality content on the SAHS blog or website. New products and services can be promoted and

physician/practice research involvement can be shared, establishing the SAHS team as thought

leaders in the medical space. This also leads to guest posting opportunities on other health care

sites, increasing chances for speaking engagements and invitations to panel discussions, which

will all increase SAHS brand awareness. Guest posting allows SAHS physicians to penetrate new

audiences and onboard new patients (Patient POP, 2019). Professional health care administrators

5

marketed effectively. To do this, SAHS can develop and promote customer-friendly scheduling

platforms and payment procedures., fast service, comfortable waiting areas, clinic amenities,

private rooms, etc. (In video, 2022). The more comfortable, time-efficient, automated, and user-

friendly the customer experience is, the more traction it will gain amongst healthcare

administrators

health economic policies. Therefore, it is important for SAHS to make it clear and obvious on their

online platforms what services are being delivered (how, where, and by whom), who is eligible for

them, how they’re paid for, are they well-delivered, are they accessible, and are the needs of

marginalized populations adequately served? This way the information regarding SAHS products,

services, and the populations they serve can be easily identified by policy makers.

Payors are responsible for operationalizing the financial components of the policy

framework, enrolling patients as beneficiaries and procuring health care services from providers

on behalf of their patient beneficiaries. Payors are also responsible for ensuring the financial

stability of the care program and reporting to policy makers. Payors and providers have a

customer/supplier relationship, and payors have a supplier/customer relationship with their patient

6

necessity of the services they offer, as well as market competitive pricing in comparison to other

health care organizations offering the same products and services (PressBooks, 2021).

Without a strategic, organized marketing strategy, SAHS will continue to observe

suboptimal clientele volume and be at risk of closure. The good news is that SAHS already has an

excellent reputation in the community, so it just needs to focus on reaching more people and

processes and activities which has restricted its quality of performance and its ability to deliver

better quality of services to its users.

adoption of EHR would help SAHS to have a better degree of control over patient records and make

optimum use of its resources. But due to the absence of an electronic health record system, Shady

Acres Healthcare System follows manual processes to manage data which restricts its level of

efficiency while delivering health care services.

Financial Concerns

7

SAHS is in an extremely poor area with an increasing number of individuals who are

unemployed and thus without health insurance. The clinics have been using a sliding fee discount

program scale. The sliding fee scale is a model for payments which is administered to patients who

can’t afford care to begin with. SAHS needs to take advantage of government programs such as

Medicare, Medicaid, or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Individuals and/or families

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) developed a program called

Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP). The program “rewards acute care hospitals with

incentive payments for the quality of care they provide.” The VBP program was designed to

improve the overall quality of care for patients and ensure patients are receiving the best possible

experience (cms.gov). In fiscal year (FY) 2020 the total incentive payments for VBP was $1.9

at a lower cost to Medicare (cms.gov). f

Not-For-Profit & Growth Possibilities

8

One of the great things that Shady Acres Healthcare Systems (SAHS) has going for it is that

are afforded many tax incentives and tax breaks when compared to for-profit organizations and

healthcare systems. Not-for-profit healthcare systems are blessed with not having to pay federal

corporate income taxes, state income taxes, and depending on where they are located their location

very helpful and beneficial to SAHS in helping to turn the page and address the growing needs or

the organization and the community.

assessment tools needed to address and meet the needs of the new community springing up in their

backyard and help in either improving or expanding existing services to address the new needs.

With the growing population within SAHS footprint, there is the ability to expand its pharmacy to a

mail-order pharmacy and expand the laboratory as it is not being used at its full strength. Since

Coronavirus (COVID) has hit the United States, the need for mail-order pharmaceuticals has

grown. Today the mail-order pharmacies make up over 37 percent of the market (Elizabeth Seeley,

9

2021). With SAHS own laboratory only being used at 33 percent of its capacity, there is a strong

need to expand its usage is very critical in helping to make sure SAHS is profitable. With

establishing an electronic health record (EHR) to help bring SAHS to the modern world will be

very critical to help expand the laboratory. There is also room to offer new contracts to the federal

government in terms of COVID testing and many other services and other companies can benefit

Conclusion

There is plenty of considerable room for growth for SAHS, and by addressing the issues

addressed and presented above, SAHS can be in a better situation moving forward towards the

future then how they are in their current state. With the growth and expansion of the current area

that SAHS services as a healthcare provider, opens the door for new technology and growth.