The Ethical Aspects of Marketing in Health Care
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The Ethical Aspects of Marketing in Health Care
The medical industry is as complex as it is, therefore making it difficult to apply universal principles from another sector to fit in the industry (Berkowitz, 2010). Healthcare industry has experienced tremendous dynamism in the recent past, and care providers need to prepare and respond to the changes experienced in the sector. Marketing is a practice applied in any industry for various purposes major being to boost sales, and profit and healthcare providers have also embraced to promote their services (Armstrong, Adam, Denize, & Kotler, 2014). Marketing grows profit, promote the image of a business and make the company expand bringing the business to its purpose and getting clients familiar with the services offered.
Ethical marketing in healthcare should be taken seriously, as it builds on the reputation of the organization and improve on its interaction with patients (Sillup & Porth, 2008). The changes occurring in the healthcare sector and other industries and the advancements that people live in should push service providers to rethink the way of doing things (Berkowitz, 2010). Like any other business, those practicing in the healthcare industry should develop effective strategies that would help them overcome the possible challenges that they may face in the process of service delivery. It is all about sustainable growth and hospitals just as other business have to boost their income in terms of profits to continue offering services.
Healthcare marketing complexity makes it not only about promotion and sales but to build a facility that is sustainable with the reasonable amount of profit while at the same time meeting the needs of the service seekers (Berkowitz, 2010). Many facets needs assessment for execution of the products and services that will benefit the patients in terms of costs, services, products and accessibility among other factors. As most care centers specialize while at the same time offer the essential services, it is appropriate to identify the target, customers.
Identifying clients based on disparities and the factor differences enables providers to tailor products and services to the needs of the population and only provide services relevant to their market of focus. To change the progress and course of the care institution there need to be a proper marketing strategy that takes into consideration all the possible aspects of healthcare and the clients (Sillup & Porth, 2008). The continuous access to healthcare and the consumers being active participants in healthcare delivery and having upper hand knowledge can be a nightmare to care providers. Without proper strategy and ethical marketing, the institution may end up not performing well (Berkowitz, 2010).
Communicating values of the care providers to the patients, helps build provider-patient relationship through a well-planned strategic course of the organization to achieve continuous growth and success. In the current dynamic environment of healthcare service provision, ethical, customized healthcare marketing strategies secures healthcare organizations chances to excel in the course of their service provision (Berkowitz, 2010). The United States is working towards the accountable care provision, with reduced costs, appropriate diagnosis and minimal wastage, a principle that requires higher ethical standards. Having planning, and marketing strategies with a clear focus on the services to offer to patients, the hospital most likely would comply.
Ethical Issues in Healthcare Marketing
Engaging in ethical marketing by healthcare organizations would not only build the reputation of the institution or its profits but also ensure taking patients concerns into consideration. The advancement in technology presents the healthcare organizations with the potential of offering services that are more specialized which have also seen significant transformation in policies and regulations (Berkowitz, 2010). The change is real like never before, and each healthcare organization should be on the move to match the changes in terms of advancement, practice, and consumers. The healthcare industry as it is currently is competitive and more consumer driven and traditional practices are far fading off doing medical practice more than just caring for patients.
It is a matter of fact that healthcare marketing is not all about advertising, the target audience who are the target base must be identified, and the information offered is appropriate to their expectations and the services meet their needs. With the available technologies, several marketing platforms can be developed, but requires strategic content following all the available guidelines and responsive to the needs of the target groups (Armstrong, Adam, Denize, & Kotler, 2014). Ethical marketing in healthcare takes into consideration patient satisfaction, improved service delivery and lower expenditure providing a platform for engaging the target population (Sillup & Porth, 2008). It has to focus on retaining the existing customers even in the effort of expansion, track patients and improve the brand image.
Pharmaceutical drugs face rapid competition, and the marketing section responsible for their promotion must work an extra mile to expand awareness and build on market share. Marketing strategies should focus on the needs of consumers of services and not providers in that all focus should be on the benefit to consumers (Berkowitz, 2010). The marketing strategy focused on convincing the physicians to prescribe the drug, bringing in light the focus on promoting sales covering the clinical advantages of the drug on promotion. The suggestion by an employee for the increase in marketing funding also raises ethical concern as healthcare unit advertising should embrace the reduction of costs.
The session’s purpose for the promotion had proper substantiation in that the benefits of the drug promoted by the care providers though not clearly on the needs of the population of focus. Increasing funds for healthcare marketing works best when the focus is on retaining the customers in the event of booming sales, but on establishing the market would require feasibility (Berkowitz, 2010) as proper understanding of the product would boost sales of the drug.
Addressing Ethical Issues in Healthcare Marketing
As a head of healthcare marketing division, it is important to ensure spending of the funds for marketing purposes in a feasible manner, and any adjustments would not strain the organization (Berkowitz, 2010). Focusing on influencing the service providers to prescribe the product is a definite idea, but at the same time, it is essential to let them know much about the product and its clinical implication (Sillup & Porth, 2008). Clearly enough, the focus should be on appropriate populations that would benefit from the development and prescription of the drug other than those affected. It is much easier to influence the perception of the providers and convince them on prescribing the drug if the marketing session would focus on health needs.
Having a marketing session that is truthful on the drug on offer would avoid controversies since there will be explanations on claims and facts on the drug (Sillup & Porth, 2008). Proper standards would be set and maintained throughout that would promote the image of the organization on the targeted providers so that they associate with the brand offered to them (Armstrong, Adam, Denize, & Kotler, 2014). The form of communication suggested is appropriate, as it will provide an opportunity for asking questions and giving answers. The brochures should have articulate information that covers all the information needs of the targeted people to avoid a cast of the doubt. As much as the forms of communications are appropriate, it is essential that the content is non-discriminatory and covers the necessary aspect (Sillup & Porth, 2008).