Advertising Medical Services, Case Study Example

Background

 In this case study, several members of a healthcare team are discussing advertising their services. Some members believe that advertising medical services are unethical, while others believe it is necessary due to the growing number of all in one med services. Dr. Carter is the only one who is adamantly against the idea of using marketing. Dr. Carter proclaims that he is a traditional doctor and marketing is not a traditional way of advertising. He believes that great doctors advertise by doing a great job and doing so in a timely manner. For Dr. Carter, word of mouth is the only and best way to advertise. The members of the team voiced the pros and cons of having someone to market for them. Eventually, Dr. Carter agrees that this is a good idea. The team decides that it would be financially beneficial to allow a local college to market for them. This would cost them nothing, but would benefit the marketing students by giving them some hands on experience.

My Role

 I would choose to be the chief administrator because I would want to do what is best for all members of the group. Being a part of the group allows me to know and understand what each group member wants what they want. Also, I believe being the chief administrator would b easier to hand because the group seems to be like a family. They spoke freely and were able to voice what they felt was best for the team. Being that I would know the members of my team, I hope that I would be able to use my leadership skills to steer members in the best direction to go in, as it would benefit the entire group. However, most importantly, it seems that the entire group’s main objective is providing the best service to the clients they serve. The greatest advantage of this role is being able to lead the group, but the greatest disadvantage is taking the blame if the project does not succeed. Likewise, any failures would stay on the minds of the group members as we went into making choices in the future.

Diversity

 The issue of race is not prevalent in the case study. However, the fact that the members of the team are aware of the changing dynamics of families is important. Advances in medical technologies have provided many people with the chance to live longer, healthier lives. Nonetheless, there are many documented disparities between racial and ethnic population causing health equity to remain elusive. Health disparities are differences in health outcomes that are linked to one’s social, economic and or environmental disadvantages. These disadvantages are often caused by social conditions in which one lives, learns, and works, and responds differently from other counterparts. Health care disparities are a societal burden that manifests itself in multiple ways

Major Problems and Secondary Issues

 The major problems that the healthcare team is facing are being able to compete with quick clinics for patients. Many patients choose these types of all in one clinics because they are fast. The patient can get in, be seen by a nurse practitioner, and receive their prescriptions all in one place. Patients prefer these places because they can get in and out very fast. In order to compete with these do all clinics, this healthcare team must be able to provide great service at the same speed. A secondary problem that they may encounter is some clients may not like the idea of marketing. Clients who have been with the healthcare team for a long time might feel they know their doctors on a personal level. This might not sit well with veteran clients of the organization. Another secondary problem is the fact that when doctors try to work with clients at a faster paste, the personal level is shortened. Patients want to know that their primary physicians know them and care about their well being. When doctors are focused primarily on getting the patient in and out, it can take away the personal effect. I believe the underlying reason for the doctors wanting to begin marketing is either they have noticed a decline in their clientele or they are afraid that this will occur in the near future. Marketing can have both a positive and negative effect on the organization in terms of the type of clients they have. Older, more traditional clients may be offended by marketing, while younger, technologically advanced clients may be drawn to come to their organization due to marketing.

Strengths & Weaknesses

 The major strength that I believe this organization has is their democratic method of making decisions. Every stakeholder has an opportunity to speak and give the pros and cons of their choices. Clearly, communication between them is well established. There are many ways to determine if value is being carried out by an organization. Most often, this is conveyed through word of mouth. So many patients at healthcare facilities have other family members or relatives that receive services from the same facility. That is always a good way to know that the facility is producing desired outcomes. Another way to determine if value is being produced is by documenting the overall health of the patients that receive services at the facility. Also, careful documentation of improved health of people who have debilitating diseases like hypertension or diabetes. When a person’s health improves it means that he/she is taking the advice of the doctor because he/she values what the doctor is saying. A final way to determine the outcome value is the number of patients being seen. Some facilities have more patients than the doctors are able to see in an adequate amount of time. However, because patients value the service, they are willing to wait extended periods of time to see the doctors they value and trust. Consequently, I believe that the major weakness is the fact that they have not already polled or surveyed their clients to see how they feel about marketing or to even get ideas about what type of marketing they feel may work for the facility. A secondary weakness is how the professionals will align the organization with the changing environment. Environmental changes include shifts in competition, regulation, customer preferences, political will, technology availability and/or economic conditions. Environment changes can present challenges or opportunities for an organization. More information is needed about the type of clients they serve, the demographics, economic situation, etc in the areas in which they are working.

Alternatives

The use of social network sites is the most advanced form of communication today. People use sites such as Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis. I believe this would be a great alternative to radio or television advertising. I believe this would be a great way to get in touch with those tech savvy clients, while excluding those that may be more traditional and shy away for technology. The providers could start by setting up an account with Facebook or Twitter. Clients who are already a part of these sites could write reviews or follow them to show that they have had favorable services provided by the organization. This method would cost little to no out of pocket fees for the organization. However, they would need someone who would monitor the accounts and respond to reviews and questions when necessary. That may cost some extra money, but if it brings in more clients it would definitely be worth it.

Evaluation

Employee satisfaction is directly linked to great customer service. Employers spend great time and money to ensure that customers are satisfied, but often they fail to remember that employees are the key to success in that area. To ensure that employees are happy employers need to provide adequate training and competitive salaries. With proper training, employees have the necessary tools to make wise decisions that benefit both them and the company. Likewise competitive salaries create a working environment that has incentives to do a great job. The physician is the last person that the client sees because they encounter several other people before being seen by the doctor.  A survey is an important tool to help company reach customer service perfection; however, the survey must ask the right questions. Questions that are too broad will only give a company a gist of what customers want. Questions must be direct and to the point. First, ask customers for an overall rating. Second, ask them specific service rendered questions. Third, ask them what their priorities are. Finally, the company needs to know the characteristics of its customers.  With overall rating customers are asked to give the company a score based upon their overall experience with the company from beginning to end. The overall score only provides the company with a snapshot of it services. The service specific allows the customer to rate specific aspects of the company. These questions allow the customer to give specific details that may be as simple as a rude worker. The overall goal of the healthcare provide is closing the healthcare gap.  Closing the gap will not be an easy task for health care professionals.  Despite constant efforts to decrease health disparities, ethnic disparities in health care have persisted for decades. Some minorities have adequate   income, health insurance, and access to care, but are still reluctant to receive regular health care.  As a result, infant mortality, life expectancy, and prevalence of chronic disease are more prevalent ethnic minority populations than their white counterparts. Collaboration between communities and healthcare professionals, better prepared health care provides, and cultural knowledge are the only ways to bridge healthcare disparities. To determine if this has occurred, this organization can gather information from local health departments and then compare this information after a time frame in their marketing campaign.