The combination of these effects can also contribute to greater economic growth in a region over time. The greatest opportunity of all is to transform these low income and poverty level regions with better medical care so they can pursue better paying jobs due to their family's health being stabilized. While urgent care facilities treat all age ranges, concentrating on infant and young adults will have an inordinately higher rate of impact across entire communities than not focusing on a given age group at all.
Threats
There is unfortunately always the threat of litigation and lawsuits. This is an unfortunate, unpleasant fact, especially in the state of California. This has led to many free urgent care facilities being closed or even sued despite their nonprofit status (Bindman, Grumbach, Bernheim, Vranizan, Cousineau, 2000). The threat of lack of partial government funding as many states and regions of the world face cutbacks makes donations critical to the success of free healthcare providers (Fitzgerald, 2010).
Marketing Plan
In devising the marketing plan for the proposed free urgent care facility, the following key functional areas are defined. First, the focus will be on giving donors complete accountability and visibility into how their dollars are being spent. There will be a "open book" financial statement policy and a board of trustees that will be comprised of donors as well. This will ensure the level of ownership on the part of donors (Lewis, 2007).
In devising the marketing plan there are two distinct segments being addressed. The first are the donors and the critical need they have for active philanthropy, and the second is marketing the free clinic to those in need. The former segment will be much...
A free urgent care facility in a dominant location in a low-income or poverty-based area will attract traffic very quickly by word of mouth. It is common knowledge that those without
insurance often use the
emergency room as their doctor (Bindman, Grumbach, Bernheim, Vranizan, Cousineau, 2000). This aspect of how urgent care facilities are perceived by poverty-level people says a lot about its marketing. Word of mouth will carry quickly in these communities. The far greater challenge will be to capture donors and get them involved and invested from a monetary and emotional standpoint in the free urgent care facility.
Fundraising Activities
The ability to get donors who really care about the day-to-day operations of the urgent care center will be the most critical. That is why accountability surrounding the use of funds, the opportunity to volunteer, even serve on the board of trustees, is critical. The need for creating a highly participatory environment is also essential if the urgent care clinic is going to succeed. Having fund raising events to purchase new medical equipment, supplies and to get day-to-day funding available are all critical aspects of fundraising. Getting a larger corporation to be a primary donor can help to get the process started and get a high level of credibility as well.
References
Anthopolos, R., & Becker, C.. (2010). Global Infant Mortality: Correcting for Undercounting. World Development, 38(4), 467.
Andrew B. Bindman, Kevin Grumbach, Susannah Bernheim, Karen Vranizan, & Michael Cousineau. (2000). Medicaid managed care's impact on safety-net clinics in California. Health Affairs, 19(1), 194-202.
Fitzgerald, B.. (2010, May). Casting a wider net to attract donations. NJBIZ, 23(18), 10.
Maureen Lewis. (2007). Informal Payments And The Financing Of
Health Care In Developing And Transition Countries. Health Affairs, 26(4), 984-97.
Yoo, J., Slack, K., & Holl, J. (2009). Material Hardship and the
Physical Health of School-Aged Children in Low-Income Households. American Journal of
Public Health, 99(5),…
