Health Services Marketing: A Practitioner's Guide / Edition 1

by Richard K. Thomas

Overview

For today’s busy health care professional, clinical expertise is not enough: one also has to know the market. Even when a facility has its own marketing department, practitioners are regularly called on for input. From promotions to pricing, this book clearly and succinctly explains the range of marketing activities and techniques, so any health professional can learn to navigate this bewildering but increasingly important aspect of healthcare. Richard Thomas’ step-by-step guide for developing a marketing plan and carrying out a successful campaign offers a hands-on approach to proven methods for staying a step ahead of the healthcare marketing game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387736044
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	10/19/2007
Edition description:	2008
Pages:	164
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Richard K. Thomas is Vice President of the Health Management Associates, Memphis, TN. He is also Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Thomas has authored a recent academic treatment of marketing and healthcare: Marketing Health Services (2004, Health Administration Press). He is also author of Health Communication and several other books on health administration published by Springer.

Table of Contents

to Healthcare Marketing.- The Basics of Marketing.- The Marketing Process.- Marketing Research.- Marketing Planning.- Healthcare Products and Customers.- Paying the Marketing Freight.- Market Positioning and Strategy Development.- Choosing Among Promotional Options.- Social Marketing.- The New Healthcare Marketing.- Measuring the Effectiveness of Marketing.- How to Be a Healthcare Marketing “Hero”.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Lawrence M. Leber, MA (Emerson College)
Description: This easy to comprehend book describes the tactics and strategy required to effectively market products and services in the healthcare industry.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide a crash course in marketing communications for those in the health services industry.
Audience: It could be argued that the book is written for students, residents, and practitioners who all would benefit from the simple discussion of marketing practices. However, for marketing communications professionals, the history and complexities of the health industry provided in the book are very useful as a foundation.
Features: The book offers a Marketing 101 course for health industry professionals in the healthcare market.
Assessment: Since marketing in the health services industry has been generally frowned on for the "unethical" cognitive attachments associated with marketing healthcare, the author definitely has filled the gap in most business plans in the health industry. The author meets his objective of providing tools for health professionals who have struggled to achieve proper positioning in a growing competitive marketplace.

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