Ethical Concern and Healthcare

Ethical Concerns in Healthcare Marketing The healthcare environment/setting is characterized by several ethical concerns or challenges, which have tremendous impacts on patients and their families as well as other stakeholders. The existence of numerous ethical concerns in the healthcare setting is attributable to the fact that nearly every decision made relating to delivery of patient care has ethical implications. The implications in turn have significant effects on patients, healthcare leaders, and healthcare providers.

In the past few years, ethical concerns have characterized the healthcare setting because of the increased demands for accessibility and affordability of care as well as improved quality of care. These have become major factors in the healthcare setting because of the increase in patient populations and their demands. One of the ethical concerns in the healthcare field is how to balance profits and the provision of healthcare to patients (Kreimer, 2010).

While healthcare organizations have the basic mandate of providing healthcare to patients, they are also established to serve patients with different kinds of healthcare needs. Given the significant number of underinsured and uninsured populations, healthcare organizations are faced with the challenge of balancing the provision of care or focusing on profits. This is a major ethical concern, especially for for-profit healthcare organizations that provide patient care as a business.

In essence, the provision of patient care services as a business is a major ethical concern because it challenges the established values, ideals, practices, and interests of the healthcare profession. The underlying issue in this ethical concern is whether healthcare organizations and providers should focus on profits or people i.e. patients and their families. This ethical concern relates to healthcare marketing through generating issues on what should be the main focus of marketing initiatives in this profession.

In essence, the issue of balancing profits versus people generates concerns on whether healthcare marketing strategies and initiatives should be established in a manner that focuses on profits or people. Healthcare marketers face this ethical concern because the increased commercialization of healthcare services has become controversial in the recent past (Andre & Velasquez, 2015). On one hand, the commercialization of patient care services is viewed as a means towards improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the health sector through increasing the role of entrepreneurs and competition.

On the other hand, commercialization of these services to pursue profits is regarded as anti-ethical to the values and ideals of medicine. In this regard, healthcare marketers are faced with the concern on whether marketing initiatives and messages should pursue profits or promote the delivery of efficient and quality care to patients. As a healthcare marketer, I will work around this ethical concern through ensuring that marketing strategy, initiatives, and messages emphasize on value and quality of care.

The emphasis on value and quality in marketing initiatives in healthcare helps in balancing profits and people in this setting. Marketing strategies and initiatives will be developed based on the value that healthcare services provide to the organization and customers i.e. patients. The provision of value will benefit patients by ensuring that they receive quality care that enhances their outcomes and promotes their wellbeing. On the other hand, the organization will become profitable because quality care will attract more patients who will pay for the services.

In conclusion, the healthcare setting is characterized by numerous ethical concerns because patient care decisions have ethical implications on patients, providers, and other stakeholders. An example of.