The average person might be surprised about how significantly economic, technological, social, and competitive factors influence marketing strategies in the healthcare field. Marketing strategies in the context of health care relate to the types of services that can and will be provided to patients by the health care provider. For the millions of Americans who do not have health insurance, the fact that there is an economic aspect to the healthcare network in this country comes as no surprise. When someone needs medical care, their satisfaction will, at least to some extent, be related to that provider's ability to deliver state-of-the-art services. In turn, the ability to deliver state-of-the-art services is, to a significant extent, influenced by a health care provider's access to technology. For example, a patient who knows that his or her doctor does not have an X-ray machine in the office would be more likely to go elsewhere if they believed something needed an X-ray.
The average person does not think of healthcare as a business and therefore dismisses the concept of competitive factors at work in the health care industry. However, hospitals compete with each other every day for patients. Doctors, dentists, and other healthcare providers are in competition with each other for patients. The social factor is another aspect of the marketing strategy in the healthcare field that is easily overlooked. For example, a caring and competent doctor will find it more difficult to retain patients if his or her support staff including receptionists and nurses are curt, condescending, confrontational or in any way less than courteous to patients.
Health care service providers are businesses. In addition to the economic factors that affect patients' decisions, economic realities effect health care providers' decisions. For example, health care providers want technologically advanced diagnostic equipment, ...