Marketing: Marketing and Health Care

Health care includes hospital health care, physician services, dental services, drug and medical supplies, physical therapy, nursing home care, substance abuse services, and psychological health care.  It includes both profit and no-profit businesses.  In 1991 a total of $756 billion was spent in the United States on health care.  This is a huge and constantly growing market.  There is a huge financial burden on placed on health centers, due to 37 million uninsured people in the United States.    This makes marketing to and by health care institutions challenging and necessary.

To provide health care services, health care institutions must purchase a rather sizeable amount of goods and services.  Marketers supply health care institutions with buildings, medical equipment and supplies, machinery, office equipment and supplies, utilities, and insurance.  Advertising and sales people that are specialists in their field mostly fill these needs.  For example, the pharmaceutical industry relies heavily on the marketing efforts to sell medical drugs to health care institutions.  Marketers in this over $75 billion industry may spend more than $200 million on marketing just to introduce a new product to this market. Pharmaceutical sales people make calls to doctors, trying to introduce them to new products. They provide physicians with promotional samples to give to their patients.  In addition, pharmaceutical marketers use heavy media advertising such as television and radio advertising, and promotional videos and publications.  These forms of advertising familiarize consumers as well as physicians about medical drugs. 

On the other hand, there is marketing by health care institutions.  Providing health care is a highly competitive endeavor.  The number of hospitals has decreased due to consolidation and the need for more cost efficient facilities.  Trauma centers in hospitals and nursing homes are over crowded and short staffed.  Health care organizations must compete for patients, doctors, nurses, and financial resources.  The number of nursing home facilities has increased during the past 3 decades.

 However, more facilitates are needed to take care of the growing number of senior citizens.  To meet the challenges of the health care institutions must effectively market their services to prospective patients and funding sources.  Private and public health care institutions depend on patient’s fees, government funds, and contributions to carry out their missions.  Health care organizations use several types of media to market their services.  Consumer interest in good health has provided new opportunities for marketers.  Health products have dominated new product developments in the grocery store.  The necessity of health care will always create marketing opportunities for health care institutions.