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Biomedical subjects

R S MacStravic

Publications and source records attributed to R S MacStravic.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Pros and cons of marketing technology.

For years, high technologies have provided hospitals with marketing advantages. Hospitals used them to recruit and keep physicians and to lure patients and purchasers. Having the latest technology in a given field provided hospitals with status and prestige and enabled smaller facilities to compete with major medical centers. From a marketing point of view, technologies can produce four distinct effects that benefit the hospital: halo, monopoly, opportunity, and momentum effects. The best technology, from a competitive marketing viewpoint, meets the following criteria: The hospital can operate it at acceptable and, hopefully, competitive quality levels. The hospital can offer it at acceptable and, hopefully, competitive cost. It is sufficiently accessible to patients who need it. It gives the hospital a distinct competence in its market that can be preserved for a long time. But technology can become a risky business if: The hospital cannot attract the volume of patients needed to maintain quality. The low-volume hospital prices itself out of the competitive market. The new technology has undisclosed or undiscovered side effects. The technology is recruited by a competitor. Hospitals place more value on it than do their customers.

Economic Competition↗
PubMed1988

Customer-oriented medical records can promote patient satisfaction.

The customer-oriented medical record helps promote patient satisfaction by providing a mechanism to monitor and document quality of care from the patient's perspective. Information that should be contained in the record includes the following: Personal and family information. Reasons for selecting the provider. Reasons for patient visit. Patient requests and responses thereto. Provider and staff observations. Patient feedback. Summaries of previous visits. Record of progress made. In addition to promoting patient satisfaction, the customer-oriented medical record provides a data base for analyzing the current market that can be used in designing marketing communications to attract new patients. It also contributes to provider success by reminding care givers of their commitment to patient satisfaction, motivating them to be sensitive to patients' needs and expectations, and helping them to personalize the care experience.

Consumer Behavior↗
PubMed1988

Evaluating health care advertising.

Evaluating health care advertising is a four-part process that enables health care managers to target particular markets and to determine the effects of advertising particular services and products.

Advertising↗
PubMed1988

Outcome marketing in health care.

Monitoring outcomes of health care encounters can improve marketing efforts by addressing specific consumer needs.

Economic Competition↗
PubMed1987

Loyalty of hospital patients: a vital marketing objective.

Hospitals must strive for patient loyalty as a top priority objective in their marketing strategies. Loyal patients are sources of repeat business, potential users of new services, and positive spokespersons in word-of-mouth advertising.

Communication↗
PubMed1987

Presenting the right evidence.

The primary focus in any marketing communication is its theme--the conclusion that audiences are intended to reach as the result of seeing or hearing the message. Two kinds of conclusions are possible. The first type, factual conclusions, are an awareness and acceptance of objective, verifiable information such as services or technologies offered, location, hours, and charges. The second type of conclusion, an opinion, is a conviction that a given healthcare organization offers a positive subjective attribute, such as compassion, competence, or friendliness. To increase the credibility of subjective attribute claims, marketers can provide seven basic forms of evidence: Statistics; Stories; Exhibits; Demonstrations; Examples; Promises; Testimony. To be effective, the evidence presented must be the right evidence. An organization must determine and respond to what signifies and demonstrates specific subjective attributes to its customers. Organizations must known what quality of patient care means in customer terms, as well as in professional terms. Organizations that deliver the right evidence of quality will enjoy the strongest market positions.

Hospitals↗
PubMed1986

Product-line administration in hospitals.

While a great deal of discussion has centered on product-line planning and management, product-line marketing may be even more important. Defining its market increases the hospital's ability to achieve its mission, improve its vitality, and attract medical staff. By focusing on specific programs or products, the hospital may be able to develop "centers of excellence" that attract patients and referrals from a wide area.

Diagnosis-Related Groups↗
PubMed1986

Hospital-physician relations: a marketing approach.

Hospital-physician relations have traditionally been an important foundation to the mission and survival of hospitals. New developments are increasing the importance of this relationship. A marketing approach asks some simple questions and suggests specific proposals about how to strengthen and improve these critical relationships.

Communication↗
PubMed1985

Cognitive commitments in health services marketing.

Armed with valid information about what people expect, health care organizations can make commitments to current and prospective patients, thereby increasing their marketing success and improving patient satisfaction.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1985

Word-of-mouth communications in health care marketing.

Word-of-mouth (WOM) advertising can be an important communications tool, since it addresses the right target--the decision maker, contains the needed information, and occurs at the right time. An effective WOM communications program will use a marketing survey to identify decision makers and measure their degree of preference for the provider to determine which decision makers can be influenced. A survey also should be used to discover the most significant information sources. To involve those sources in a WOM communications effort requires that they be satisfied with their provider and that they be convinced the provider is the best choice for the person who has requested the recommendation. To increase the likelihood that sources will be informed about a specific provider, pamphlets or other materials can be distributed to assist them. Other forms of encouragement include patient surveys and employee bonuses. An institution's WOM program should also be consistent with its other communications efforts. Messages must be compatible with the themes of advertising and publicity campaigns.

Advertising↗
PubMed1985

The curse of census variation.

Variations in daily census have been on ongoing problem for hospitals. An even greater, but virtually ignored, problem is that of yearly census variation. In this article, formulas for predicting the possible range in utilization over the life of the physical facility and methods of planning for those variations are discussed.

Appointments and Schedules↗
PubMed1984

Persuasive communication strategies for hospitals.

Stringent rules apply to the kinds of things hospitals can say about themselves and their services, over and above the ethics that apply to all advertising. Yet it seems clear from the levels of interest in advertising among hospitals and the growth in the use of this marketing technique in recent years that persuasion strategies will become more conscious and comprehensive in the future.

Advertising↗