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M
O
N
O
G
R
A
P
H
Institute of Business Management



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Relevance
of Health
Care
Marketing
Challenges
for health
care
marketing
Myths &
Truths
Global
Perspective
Importance
Integration
Relationship
Marketing
Health Care
Marketing
Ethics
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PREFACE
In recent years, the healthcare sector has become very competitive and is shifting rapidly. The
climb of the patient as a consumer, the beginning of innovative technologies and a new breed of
entrepreneurial managers are the main factors behind this industrial transformation. Today's
health market has become consumer-driven.
Patients are better informed and they know more about health and medical facility. It is against
these conditions that this monograph has been developed as the marketing of hospital services
assumes significance in the field of hospital management.
This monograph is organized in sections. The first section gives an overview of services sector,
healthcare services and marketing. The third section presents the socio-economic factors relating
to the customers of healthcare services. The fourth section deals with the choices and preferences
of the customers of health services and the factors influencing them in the selection of hospitals.
The fifth section highlights the importance of marketing of healthcare services and examines the
marketing practices of the selected commercial hospitals. All the significant hospital activities
concerning the seven Ps of the services marketing mix are covered in these sections.
The conclusion and suggestions of the study will be useful not only to the academicians, teachers,
students, hospital management and its personnel, but also to the government and health
policymakers in formulating the future policies and strategies of the healthcare sector.
Health marketing is a terrible need in Pakistan. With the small Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2.5
spending on healthcare, the raising standard shifts of awareness, community health, population
parameters, disease manifestation, media, technology etc., a lot of spotlight has been generated to
develop regulated mechanisms for preventive health care. Health Marketing can potentiate the
need filling.
Health marketing participate in health care in a multitude of settings including primary care
programs, inpatient medical units, and specialized health care programs such as management of
pain, rehabilitation, health of women, oncology, smoking cessation, and diverse other programs.
They also work in colleges and university, corporations, and for governmental agency. The
descriptions of which are mentioned in the monograph.
We wish you a healthy happy reading!


Authors
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Health Care
marketing believes in
patients education,
satisfaction and
relationship building
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HEALTH CARE MARETING &
FACTORS AFFECTING
Theme
Health Care Marketing
Demographics
Trends
Policies
Privacy
Relationship Marketing
Application
Benchmark
Bottom Line
Section 1
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HEALTH CARE MARKETI NG


The marketing of health care & services present different challenges as compare to other consumer
goods and services, because it doesnt deal with purchasing behavior whereas it deals with health
behavior. Awareness and education is basic floor of health marketing but it also deals with the
change and adaptation of behavior, which is challenging and takes time. By changing population,
research advances and health related problems, health care marketing is greatly influenced.
DEMOGRAPHICS

The changing population not just only affects marketing of
health care good and services but it also influences your
working environment. For example, as people live longer,
organizations may choose to create products and services
personalized to an aging population or to their adult children
serving as caregivers. Since different groups -age, tribal,
income level -- respond to different marketing messages or
venues, marketers of health care must be careful to develop
marketing strategies tailored for different populations

TRENDS

People can reverse healthy behaviors for many different reasons, although the reasons may be
complex, which makes marketing a complex challenge. For example, even though research has
shown the negative effects of too much sun exposure, diverse age groups react differently.
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Marketers are tasked with understanding why; perhaps young people
are caught up in a trend of going to salons of tanning and believe that
to be safer than the outdoor sun. Trends in Economy can also affect
hale and hearty habits, such as eating healthy, purchasing medication
or equipment such as glucose testing kits for diabetics.

POLICIES

Healthcare marketers need to understand how government health policies and guidelines might
impact marketing efforts.
Changes in health insurance laws can affect how people seek
preventative or emergency health care, for example. Removing
prescription requirements from popular medicines can
increase their admittance to people, yet the OTC cost may then
become high-priced to some, or there may be concern about the
abuse of a product without a doctors prescription, hence extra
education may be necessary. New federal nutritional guidelines
for healthy eating or to prevent disease may be complicated for
some populations.
PRIVACY
Privacy is a paramount concern in marketing of health care, particularly for marketers working by a
health care provider such as a hospital or clinic. The need is to recognize and rigorously adhere to
privacy laws and how you can and cannot use patient health information to market goods and
services. For other, such as those working for a manufacturer of healthcare products, research will
assist you expertise in your marketing messages to convey sensitivity; for example, marketing drug-
testing appliances to parents to use on their adolescents or condoms for
prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
Relationship marketing is in general the sum of all the activities a
business engages in to increase customer pleasure. It is a straight
marketing approach that targets a definite audience, attempt to convey
a specific message and achieve a specific result. Avenues for attainment
out to customers are a blend of getting on and novel, including the
Internet, e-mail communications, database applications as well as print
newsletters, surveys and message via postal mail.
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Consumer skepticism and an increasing desire on the part of patients to be involved in healthcare
decisions underscores the need for relationship marketing in healthcare. Opportunity and keeping
outline of communication open between health center, employees and patients increases trust,
build faithfulness and ultimately increases sales. Although not unique to the healthcare,
relationship marketing has a special role within this business sector and seeks to correct mis-
conceptions, change opinions and ultimately provide better healthcare for all.
APPLICATIONS IN HEALTHCARE
Applying relationship marketing principles to the healthcare industry
reveals new and better ways to interact and improve the doctor-patient
relationship. With on the whole goal of pouring up sales and rising
profits, this customer-focus approach to marketing uses marketing
materials and relevant educational programs to place a hospital, clinic or
entity doctor as an supporter and source of support rather than a
mistrusted contention source. Activities focus as much on improving
interpersonal behaviors as they do on actively reaching out to patients in
order to remove any doctor-patient disconnect and make communication
a two-way street.
BENCHMARKS
Keeping your patient needs, wants and desires definitely in
mind, marketing relationship, focus benchmark, listening,
prioritizing, providing, adopting and integrating. The focus is
always on to discover and understand patient needs whatever
those needs may be. Listening directly and by using electronic
and print media engages and motivates your patient to
communicate, creating it easier to truly understand their needs.
The information you gather can help you prioritize and budget
marketing dollars, providing a variety of ways to reach and
interact with patients in areas that have the maximum effect
and ROI. Customer service adaptation approach that
relationship marketing requires makes service an integral part
of an overall package of treatment. Lastly, integrate ways to determine results, and constantly
doing so, allows you to adapt and change as your patients needs and wants change.


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THE BOTTOM LINE

Relationship marketing is a cost-effective way of doing
business. It appreciably increases the chances of
retaining old and getting new patients and in the last,
getting a high-quality ROI. The relationships you foster
benefit the health of your patients also. Amplified levels
of trust and meaningful you are on their side may be just
what the doctor ordered to help patients overcome a fear of or resistance to treatments and make
better healthcare decisions.
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Theme
Ethics
Marketing Ethics
Code of Ethics
Section 2
Ethical Dilemma
Ethicals behavior
views
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ETHICS
Ethics set standards of good and bad as opposed to right
and wrong in situations where decision has to be taken.
Ethics provides the floor for decision making in delivering
health care services irrespective of their concern with
right and wrong,
They symbolize rules of moral principles which affect daily
routine life of a health worker and aid him in situations of
ethical dilemma


ETHICS IN MARKETING

Much has been whispered about the four Ps of marketingproduct, price, place, and promotion;
but minute has been said about the importance of the big E in marketing, ethics.
In todays
surroundings, where
the information is full
of reports of
questionable
leadership behaviors,
ethics seems to have
become a choice. As
healthcare executive,
we are charged with
not only to ensure
quality services but
also to manage our
profession as a open
trust.
Marketing is commonly
viewed by healthcare
executives as a means
to create or expand
demand for services
that the association
provides. This view is
completely appropriate
when a new service is
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developed that meets a real need for consumers or the public. But often, executive are faced with
questions regarding the real need of a certain product or program: How many heart centers do
most communities require? Has the efficiency of full body scanners been satisfied? Is the current
growth in bariatric surgery necessary, and are candidate for these actions being appropriately
screened and prepared? Across the country, cost issues dominate discussions regarding the
healthcare industry
Guiding principle for advertising in the healthcare industry has been developed by various
organizations. Hospitals and healthcare organizations should develop internal strategy for their
marketing and other advertising communications and share those with promotion agencies,
graphic designers, photographers, advertising writers, and other appropriate parties.
The guiding principle should address and clarify notorious issues such as the following
Not using patient and staff, instead focusing on model and actors
Patient survey and awards information inclusion
avoidance of unsupported claims that create unrealistic expectations, and
Addition of messages that create demand for unnecessary services.
In addition, these guidelines should include standards for dealing with legal issues, such as
those that may come up if a hospital advertises the practice of an independent physician; in
this situation, hospital legal counsel must review promotion

VIEWS OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR



















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Section 3
Theme
Myths
Truths
Health marketing
is immoral
Health marketing
is time consuming
Health marketing
is waste of money
Search Engine
Social Media
Health Experience
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MYTHS & TRUTHS ABOUT MARKETING
Every member of a practice is a marketing specialist every day, whether in field or office a marketer
thinks about his customer and benefiting the patients but there are certain barriers to the effective
strategies of marketer. Myths been raised in public if believed by majority of the population
becomes the fact of the real world vice versa if the public isnt aware of the facts, the facts become
myths for them.
The interchanging behavior of myths and facts keep revolving around the population we are
serving, especially in countries like Pakistan where the status of literacy is downsizing and
awareness prevails within 25% of the population, marketing of health service is considered to be
the selling of health service, where a the only objective of marketer is awareness and education of
the community.
The following contains some myths about the health care marketing

MYTH #1: HEALTHCARE MARKETING IS WICKED

The foundations of this myth come from the idea that healthcare marketing and promotion
attempts to lean potential patients with biased information. The dilemma that some people see with
this is that, due to the special and fragile nature of
healthcare, publicity and promotion techniques
shouldnt have an authority. People shouldnt be
influenced or persuaded when it comes to
something so important.

WHY BUSTING IN MARKETING HEALTHCARE
INBOUND

We know there is a lot of movement in traditional
marketing that is deceitful. Ample of advertisers
and marketers dont have your best interest at hearttheyre only interested in product sale. But
healthcare marketing is much more about having a discussion. Its concerning to provide potential
patients with the answers to the questions they didnt know they needed to inquire. By means of
healthcare in-bound techniques of marketing, the objective is to notify your patientsthrough
posting blog, videos, premium text, and social media activityand allow them to make the best
choices with the best information.

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MYTH #2: HEALTHCARE MARKETING IS A MISUSE OF VALUABLE FUNDS

Anyone who has ever faced expensive healthcare bills has probably had this thought: If only the
hospital would cut down on avoidable expenses, I wouldnt have to pay much. A lot of people
believe money used for healthcare marketing would be better used up elsewhere, whether its on
lowering costs, purchasing new equipment, or implicating
studies for advancement in medical study. Or, on a more
basic level, many hospitals and facilities think they just
cant afford more advanced marketing techniques.
WHY BUSTING IN MARKETING HEALTHCARE
INBOUND
The internet has managed to become the great equalizer
of marketing finance. Thanks to in-bound marketing
strategy, healthcare marketing doesnt have to be
something that breaks your hospital or practices finance.
While there are positively ways to spend a lot of money
on your inbound marketing movement, there are too a lot
of ways to slash corners. Most social media sites are free
to utilize and, to blog is a very low-cost way to provide your patients with lots of information. In
addition, your ROI holds a good chance to bust this myth all on its own. 51% of marketing agencies
reported positive ROIs from their inbound marketing efforts in 2013.

MYTH #3: HEALTHCARE MARKETING IS TIME CONSUMING

Hospitals and practices have numerous important daily tasks that get moved to the top of the to-do
list out of basic need. With the whole thing else going on,
making time for inbound marketing efforts that require
constant supervision just doesnt seem rational. Even if
you have an elected marketing team, keeping up with a lot
of different outlets of communication seems tedious and
unnecessary
WHY BUSTING IN MARKETING HEALTHCARE
INBOUND
While running an effective inbound marketing campaign
for your hospital or healthcare organization is no minute
task, there are many tackle and services that can help
keep you organized and accountable to your content
strategy. There will likely be more time consuming work on the border end, but one time you get
your system in place, there are organization strategies that can assist lighten your work pressure.
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Not to state that the time you do put in will be worth itthe difference can make for the
profitability of your hospital or practice can help save you time in other areas.
Regardless of what the critics say, its forever best to do your individual research and determine
what the best marketing course of action is for your hospital or healthcare association. A large
amount of the criticism that has been leveled against healthcare marketing is toward an outdated
model that involves television commercials and billboards. As an alternative, in-bound marketing
allows hospitals and healthcare organizations to save money and communicate with patients to
give them the information they crave.

TRUTH #1 USING SEARCH ENGINE

77 percent of patients use search engines to research hospitals.
Online hunt has become crucial to the consumer research
process. Do you know what pops up when someone searches for
your hospital name? Search engines hold no bias; good reviews
and bad reviews will be served from multiple sources, including
blog postings, message boards, sites like Yelp, and public Twitter
conversations. Actively managing your online presence can
positively influence the conversation.



TRUTH#2 HEALTH INFORMATION

59 percent of adults have looked online for health information
in the past year.
This is a golden chance to get in at the ground floor with possible
prospects. By building multiple healthcare conversations with
your audience, you have a much better chance of being relevant to
their online searchesthus making your brand top of mind when
they make a final decision about a provider.



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TRUTH#3 RELY ON HOSPITAL SITE
83 percent of patients rely on hospital sites to make a decision.
Have you looked at your site recently? Does it look like a throwback to 1999 or is it sleek, modern
and easy to use? For a lot of people, your hospitals website is the first time theyll interact with your
brandand as the old adage goes, you only have one chance to make
a first impression. Make it count by ensuring that your site is up to
date with modern web standards, technologies and design
philosophies.

TRUTH#4 HOSPITAL SOCIAL MEDIA

57 percent said that a hospitals social media connections would
strongly affect their choice of providers.
More than 50 percent of the nation has a social media account of
some kind, with Facebook leading the charge. If you arent out there
engaging with your audience, youre already losing market and
mindshare to your competitors. Talking to your audience online can
help cement a solid, long-lasting relationshipand theyll share these experiences with their friends
on their networks, exponentially increasing your brands online reach.

TRUTH#5 HEALTH EXPERIENCE
24 percent of patients post about their health experiences.
We live in an increasingly connected world. Many of
your patients are posting about your hospital before
they step in, and immediately giving feedback after
they step out. By involving yourself in this
conversation, you can make sure that your brand has a
solid online footing, mitigating bad experiences and
reinforcing good ones.

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Theme
Section 4
Dos
Donts
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DOS & DON TS OF MARKETING

Marketing is everything this time. You can have the best technology, but if customers dont know
you exist, or they dont know how your technology solves a real trouble for them, your set up will
fail.
WHAT MEDICAL MARKETING CANT DO?

Overcome unsatisfactory or unpleasant experiences
in your practice.
Overcome poor performance by you and your staff.
Create a sudden and incredible response.
Create a demand for services where no demand
exists.
Produce effective results if the message is
misleading.
WHAT MEDICAL MARKETING CAN DO?

Increase awareness in your market area and reach
newcomers.
Encourage current patients to STAY.
Generate renewal and referral patients.
Increase patient volume for certain services and
programs.
Support volume at slow times of the year.
Improve the attitude and morale of you and your staff.











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Theme
Section 5
Healthcare
Industry
Seller Discretion
Financing
Purchases
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CHALLENGES IN HEALTH CARE MARKETING
The characteristics of healthcare organizations stand in
contrast to the characteristics of firms in other industries,
with healthcare providers in particular behaving in a
manner often inconsistent with that of organizations in
other fields.
Health professionals, especially clinicians, fall into a special
category, and the fact that cliniciansnot administrators or
businesspeoplemake most of the decisions with regard to
patient care creates a dynamic unique to healthcare.
The nature of healthcare goods and services sets them apart
from the goods and services offered in other industries
HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY
The development of a marketing culture in any
industry is predicated on the existence of certain
assumptions about that industry and the marketing
enterprise. It is presumed that the market involves
organized groups of sellers, informed buyers, an
orderly mechanism for carrying out transactions
between sellers and buyers, and a straightforward
process for transferring payment for products
between buyers and sellers.
The operation of a market further assumes that
consumers have adequate, if not perfect, knowledge
concerning the available goods and services, that a
rational system of pricing exists, and that the laws of
supply and demand operate. The existence of a true
market in an economic sense -in healthcare has been
much debated.
Furthermore, the existence of a market is predicated
on assumptions about the motives and activities of
buyers and sellers in the market. For example, the
assumption that buyers are driven primarily, if not
exclusively, by economic motives does not fit well
with what we know about die behavior of healthcare
organizations.
Another assumption from economic theory that buyers seek to maximize their benefits from the
exchangeis also an uncomfortable fit. Thus, a number of factors operate to prevent the buyers of
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health services from operating in the same manner as the buyers of lawn services or accounting
services.
The existence of a market also presumes that sellers compete for the consumer's resources and that
this competition determines the price of the goods and services offered. In healthcare, however, it is
not unusual for healthcare providers to maintain a monopoly over a particular service within a
particular market
It is even more common for oligopolies of healthcare organizations to dominate a particular market.
Thus, the buyer of health services is frequently limited in their choice of medical personnel or
facilities. As an industry, healthcare also differs from other sectors of society in terms of the diverse
goals of its key organizations.
The goals are straightforward whether the product is detergent, cereal, or office supplies. The
intent is to sell as many units as possible while extracting the maximum profit from the transaction.
This does not mean that retailers do not serve other purposes. They provide employment and
benefits for their employees and profits for their shareholders, and they usually contribute to the
community in the form of donations, sponsorship of events, and so on, but these activities are
secondary to their single-minded goal of selling consumer products.
In other industries, potential buyers who do not have the ability to pay or who for some other
reason are considered to be undesirable customers can be refused service.
LACK OF SELLER DISCRETION

The diffuse goals of most healthcare organizations distinguish them from other firms. Most
healthcare organizations, on the other hand, are obligated (by law in most cases) to accept clients
even though the clients are unable to pay for
the services and are deemed "undesirable
Emergency departments essentially cannot
turn away any patient needing emergency
care until the patient has at least been
stabilized.
While providers may have some discretion in
acceptance of patients with stable, routine
conditions, while physician offices may
require some payment on the front end for
those patients without insurance, there are
ethical considerations associated with turning
a clearly symptomatic patient away.
This situation means that healthcare organizations often provide services that are not profitable.

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FINANCING THE PURCHASE OF GOODS & SERVICES

Unlike other industries, healthcare lacks a straightforward means of financing the purchase of
goods and services, particularly for patient care
services. Consumers in other industries typically pay
directly for the goods and services they consume, either
out of pocket or through some method of credit.
In healthcare, many times some portion of the cost may
be paid out of pocket by the consumer, the majority of
the fees are likely to be paid by a third party. This may
be a private insurance plan or a government-sponsored
plan such as Medicare or Medicaid.
The seller may have to deal with thousands of different
insurance plans, and the services may be paid for using
a combination of different payment mechanisms. This
type of situation cannot be found in any other industry and results in a much more complicated
financial picture for healthcare than for other industries
HEALTH CARE PURCHASES

Ultimately, many healthcare purchases are not in response to a health need (and certainly not an
urgent need), but in response to a want. One has only to look
at the hot areas in the provision of health services Today
business is booming for cosmetic surgery, laser eye surgery,
skin care, and medically supervised weight-loss programs.
None of the conditions these procedures address are life
threatening or even medically necessary.
The fact that virtually none of these services are covered by
standard insurance plans reflects the elective nature of these
procedures. Marketers recognize a want when they see one;
it is not necessary to wait until a need is discovered.
Healthcare consumers are perhaps most distinguished from
consumers of other goods and services by their insulation
from the price of the products they consume. Because of the
unusual financing arrangement characterizing healthcare
and the lack of access to pricing information, healthcare
consumers seldom know the price of the services they are
consuming, until after they have consumed them.
While the positive effect of this situation is that clinicians are likely to provide or recommend the
services they believe to be medically necessary independent of price.
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AT LEAST TWO PROBLEMATIC CONSEQUENCES ARISE FROM THIS SITUATION.

FIRST
Consumers are not likely to limit resource utilization to prevent running up the cost of care. If they
do not know the amount of the fees being charged, ----and do not have to pay them anyway, -----no
incentive to use services wisely exists. Similarly, providers have no incentive to provide services
efficiently if this is the case. Indeed, under traditional fee for-service arrangements the incentives
available to physicians contributed to greater use of resources.
SECOND
Healthcare providers are able to use price as a means of competition or as a basis for marketing.
With the exception of those organizations that provide elective services or serve a retail market,
there is no way to compete based on price. Few consumers are knowledgeable concerning the
operation of the healthcare system or have direct experience with many aspects of its delivery
mechanisms.
There is typically no basis for evaluation of the quality of services provided by health facilities or
practitioners, leaving the consumer with no means to make meaningful distinctions. Consumers
must make judgments based on the provider's reputation or superficial factors such as the
appearance of the facilities, available amenities, or tastiness of the hospital's food.

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Theme
Section6
Healthcare
Decision
Healthcare to
consumer
Greatest generation
influence
Boomers Challenge
Healthcare
Millennial
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HOW EACH GENERATION MAKES CARE DECISIONS
Today, people in need of healthcare have more options, more information and more at stake when
they make their care decisions. The way healthcare consumers choose care providers is evolving;
changing based on the habits and behaviors of each new generation. In this matter of Protocol, well
look at how each generation of healthcare consumers makes their purchase decisions to help
hospital and physician practice marketers engage each segment of the healthcare audience.

MARKETING HEALTHCARE TO CONSUMERS
Hospitals and physician practices are discover that its no longer enough to distribute good quality
healthcare to stay put competitive. Todays discriminating healthcare consumers, especially
patients of young age , consider brand name and patient skill before physician referral. In response,
care providers need to communicate the organizations competitive position and deliver the
desired patient experience to connect with younger generations.
This is a new realism for healthcare marketers, but for most customer brands it has always been
this way. Additional patients are shopping for care much the way they do for other goods and
services. They are vigorously researching their healthcare alternatives to determine how and
where they will spend their care dollars.
To attract and engage healthcare consumers, it's helpful when marketers understand the expansion
of healthcare consumers, and what factors influence each segment of their audience.

GENERATION INFLUENCE

When selecting a hospital, the oldest Generation patient is most influenced by where their doctor
suggests they go or where theyve had prior experiences, followed by the hospitals status or its
nearness to their homes. They are the least likely to do research health options online or take part
in online communities. Because the elderly depend on healthcare, they are release to publicity in
mass media, as well as messages delivered within the office environment.
Factors for Hospital Selection
1. Physicians recommendation 28%
2. Prior experiences 20%
3. Hospital reputation 18%
4. Proximity/location 14%
5. Advanced technology 12%
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BOOMERS CHALLENGE TO DOCTOR

Boomers are the most important edge of the
silver tsunami; a rising populace of elder
citizens that is altering the prospect of the
healthcare industry. They query the status quo
and look for for new solutions. In addition to
direct their own health care, they are also likely
to act as care givers and advocates for both their
parents in the Greatest Generation and for their
Gen-X and Gen-Y kids.
Factors for Hospital Selection
1. Physicians recommendation 25%
2. Hospital reputation 22%
3. Prior experiences 20%
4. Advanced technology 12%
5. Proximity/location 10%
HEALTH CARE MILLENNIALS

These youthful adults tend to shop for and show
inclination for healthcare brands; theyre profoundly
prejudiced by great advertising, reputation and
patient experiences. Millennial seek information
from multiple sources, as well as online search,
review and ranking sites, their large social networks
and word of mouth referrals
They value optimistic personal relationships with
care providers, but they are likely to change doctors
or hospitals if they have a unenthusiastic experience.
Factors for Hospital Selection
6. Hospital reputation 27%
7. Prior experiences 25%
8. Physicians recommendation 18%
9. Proximity/location 10%
10. Advanced technology 8%
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Group Members:
Naila Ansari
Farhat Zaheer
Anas Iqbal Godil
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