In health facilities, there are some marketing approaches adopted by the facilities to ensure they get an increased number of patients, to increase their revenue or to promote quality medical services among the community members. Veteran hospitals have their main target patients’ veterans of any nation in the world and to some extent their families, they offer medical services and burial services among others (Nelson, Weeks & Campfield, 2008). To reach the veterans, the company has an effective marketing plan as follows.
Veterans Affairs marketing strategy
To reach veterans, the facilities use a direct method of marketing, they pass through the state government of different countries to establish those people who fought for the country and then take care of their health conditions. Other than the government, the facilities work with nongovernmental organizations that reach out to the veterans and speaking a word of hope to them.
Other then reaching to those people who need the medication, the facility works with the existing patients to reach other people who might be known by the current population to be suffering and they qualify to be under the system. In some instances, especially when they want to pass some information to the target market on issues like pension, burials, and allowances, they use local medical and the internet.
The facility also adopt an indirect marketing approach, under this system, the facility engages in numerous community activities like training on health improvement, establishing health centers , and bring the services closer to communities. These moves have seen the facility be accepted among the communities and face increased attendances.
From a marketing angle, the approach that the hospital has used to reach to its target market can be a 4P’S (product, price, promotion and place) marketing approach; this is where it ensures that it offer high quality services at an affordable price and are easily accessible. So far, the marketing strategies adopted by VA have been successful, as the facility has continued to be accepted by many veterans and their families (VA Hospital Offical Website, 2011).
Describe whether VA hospitals has a marketing plan
VA has a marketing plan; the plan ensures the facility can reach to the target market; the marketing plan adopted by the company follows the principle of 4P’s (product, price, promotion and place); it ensures that the services or the facilities can be easily accessed by the target customer (place parameter), and they offer quality and reliable services (product parameter). To create awareness, the facilities have appropriate promotional strategies where they directly target the veterans in different countries using their ground networks, states and networking from the already existing patients.
The costs of the services are highly subsidized by the government to ensure it is affordable among the target market; when veteran has been diagnosed by a certain medical condition, the facility ensures that they get the best services at a minimal cost. This has attracted a huge number of veterans to the facilities.
Effectiveness of the marketing approaches
VA marketing plan has been effective over time, the facility has been able to command an increasing number of veterans’ patients thus improving the quality of medical services among communities. The quality of the medical services offered has been rated as one of the highest in the country and veterans are able to enjoy better living standards from the services they get from the facility.
Other than increasing the accessibility of medical care services, the facility has been able to know the best approaches they can use to improve the services of the veterans; they include the kind of education that they should offer for quality services (Fottler, Dickson, Ford, Bradley & Johnson, 2006)
How does it relate to the VA hospital’s level of performance in terms of quality of care and financial viability?
The marketing plan adopted by the facility is responsible for the increasing number of veteran patients that visit the facility at any one time; other than the patients, the facility has been able to know the best strategies and methods that they can adopt to have quality services to their patients. With the strength of its marketing and the improvement it has had in the communities, the United States government has recognized the facility as an honor to the heroes of the country and has allocated some financial grants to improve the facility as well as offered a hand in marketing and creating awareness of the existence of the facility. More particularly, the facility enjoys much support from Presidents Bush government who even honored the veterans for a meal with the executives.
The quality offered by VA hospitals has been termed as one of the best medical services in the United States; they are responsive to the needs of the people. The diversification in different places in the form of health centers and hospitals has enhanced the accessibility and improvement in medical care provision (Eastaugh, 2008).
References
Eastaugh, S. R. (2008). Diversification in the hospital industry [Electronic version]. Journal of Healthcare Finance, 34(4), 52-65.
Fottler, M. D., Dickson, D., Ford, R. C., Bradley, K., & Johnson, L. (2006). Comparing hospital staff and patient perceptions of customer service: A pilot study utilizing survey and focus group data. Health Services Management Research, 19(1), 52-66.
Nelson, W. A., Weeks, W. B. , & Campfield, J. M. (2008). The organization costs of ethical conflicts. Journal of Healthcare Management, 53(1), 41-53.
VA Hospital Offical Website.(2011). Veteran Affairs Hospital. Web.