Community hospital marketing strategies for diverse obstetrical populations

Marketing Forces and Diversification

As American society becomes increasingly ethnically diverse through immigration, relocation, birth rates and other factors, our hospitals must hone their sensitivity to resulting changes in community health needs. In addition, rigorous competition among hospitals requires sensitive, targeted marketing strategies attractive to diverse populations. An excellent example of responsive marketing and health care is given in Noonan's and Savolaine's article. The intelligence and success of the subject community hospital's approach shows that at least a hybrid of its approach should be followed in marketing to and serving a hospital's community.

Analysis with Noonan and Savolaine Article as the Focus

Thoughts about the Market Orientation of the Community Hospital

Focusing on Noonan and Savolaine article's examination of marketing obstetrical services in a diverse Midwestern market, the community hospital showed considerable wisdom in closely examining its prospective patient population by reviewing discharge data for obstetrical patients and asking doctors do define their patients' ethnicities and cultures. (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001). Believing that the service area analysis dividing area ethnic populations into "72.2% non-Hispanic white, 7% African-American or black, 0.5% Native American, 11.2% Asian or Pacific Islander and 9.1% other" (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001) did not show the unique population features, the community hospital further divided the Caucasian population and Asian population into 4 major target ethnic groups: "Korean; Middle Eastern; Muslim (Middle Eastern, Pakistani and Indian) and Hispanic (Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban)" (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001). After defining its major target groups, the hospital tailored marketing with specific steps to "differentiate services from competitors," "family-centered program of care" and "enhance…marketing presence" among those target groups (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001). This approach follows the aggressive approach to diversity recommended in Eastaugh's article (Eastaugh, 2008, p. 52).

Cause(s) of the Change(s)

The change in marketing was caused by changes in the prospective patient population. Recent immigration, dominated by people from the Middle East and Eastern Europe but including significant immigration from Asia (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001), sufficiently changed the population of prospective patients. In order to stay competitive and/or beat the competition altogether, which is supposedly often "a force that promotes diversification" (Eastaugh, 2008, p. 61), the hospital defined the target groups and changed its marketing strategies to target those groups.

Change(s) in Service Quality and Reasons

Service Quality stayed above the national average and patient satisfaction consistently improved despite the additional service burden inherent in a 25% growth of the Family Birthing Center (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001). While all possible reasons are not discussed in the article, service quality was undoubtedly enhanced to such steps as: "large state-of-the-art labor-delivery-recovery-postpartum rooms with Jacuzzis and room for family members"; "Spanish, Korean, Arabic, and Hindi language childbirth preparation classes taught by Hispanic, Korean, and Indian nurses;" "Superior quality measures (e.g., low cesarean section rates and successful vaginal birth after cesarean initiatives)"; and "multilingual and multicultural physicians (male and female), nursing staff, cultural liaisons, and interpreters" (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001). By taking these steps, the hospital wedded its own Family Birthing Center with community needs and fulfilled its "responsibility to improve the health and well-being of the communities we serve" (Anonymous, 2011).

Conclusion

Diversity and competition among caregivers are driving forces for defining major ethnic target groups in the community, targeting marketing to those groups and tailoring health care to the needs of those groups. An astute and successful example is given in Noonan's and Savolaine's article about a Midwestern community hospital. Aware of the community's increasing diversity and mindful of rigorous competition among health care providers, the community hospital was not content with service area analysis of ethnicities and cultures; rather, the hospital endeavored to garner specific data about the ethnicity of obstetric patients who were discharged and physician's specific information regarding the ethnicities of their patients. Using this data, the hospital defined 4 major ethnic target groups and proceeded to intelligently market to those groups while tailoring the health care experience to those groups. The result was continued quality of care above the national average and increased patient satisfaction, even as the obstetric patient population significantly increased. The intelligence and success of those marketing and health care measures to better attract and serve a diverse community should compel a hospital CEO to incorporate the same approach to better attract and service diverse ethnicities and cultures in his/her own community.