Introduction
Coastal Medical Center (CMC) is a regional hospital that provides medical services to the coastal city and three other counties, and it has an overall population of nearly a million people. The region is prominent for high healthcare costs and competition from CMC and two other medical service providers. As with any hospital, CMC experiences difficulties with medical staff and administration, and patients experience low inpatient and outpatient volumes. To overcome these issues, CMC is advised to cooperate more with clients, find new partners, and target social media.
Analysis
The primary point in marketing initiatives is gathering patient feedback and evaluating their satisfaction with the medical center. Regardless of whether they receive inpatient or outpatient services, everyone should feel their value and contribution to the CMC’s improvement. Patient testimonials help to understand their experience and distribute the most positive ones to others (Gunawardane, 2020).
The next initiative is community outreach, which provides lessons on crucial healthcare topics. As CMC identifies heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pneumonia as the focal points, it can provide sessions on this topic to position itself as a trusted healthcare center (Harrison, 2020). More importantly, CMC can initiate marathons or regular events where physicians collaborate with patients in a non-standard environment. This example can even be extended to telemedicine, satisfying the needs of working populations who want to receive medical help online (Sabbir et al., 2021). These steps help to reach a larger audience and enhance clinical outcomes.
Other suggestions require CMC to have more financial support. As an illustration, it can partner with new companies to build its ambulatory surgery center as planned (Harrison, 2020). New partners always bring new clients through the referral program. The final advice to CMC is to use new technologies, such as social media, for their benefit. Targeted social media campaigns on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube help reach new potential outpatient service customers. This way, unimaginative in its approach, CMC becomes efficient and appealing to the locals and a broader audience.
Conclusion
To conclude, any medical center needs marketing initiatives to relieve declining numbers of clients. Currently, every patient seeks the most affordable and effective treatment. For this case, the importance of referral strategies increases as new partners and novelties attract people. Additionally, CMC might be interested in providing more creative services and programs for its potential clients to build a reputation as a trustworthy and optimistic medical center.
References
Harrison, J. P. (2020). Coastal Medical Center comprehensive case study. In Essentials of strategic planning in healthcare (3rd edition, pp. 1-30). Health Administration Press.
Sabbir, M. M., Taufique, K. M. R., & Nomi, M. (2021). Telemedicine acceptance during the COVID-19 pandemic: User satisfaction and strategic healthcare marketing considerations. Health Marketing Quarterly, 38(2), 168-187. Web.
Gunawardane, G. (2020). Chapter 2, Healthcare marketing: Evolution and modern trends. In Modern Health Care Marketing (pp. 21-40). World Scientific. Web.