Marketing and the Health Care System Research Paper

Marketing and the Health Care System - Research Paper Example The utilization of the healthcare services of Maryland General Hospital could be assessed by the healthcare service provider in order to analyze the current situation of usage of healthcare services. A proper analysis of the field reports is helpful in designing the ways in which the decision of the healthcare recipients could be influenced. Research Objectives The scope of this research includes a study of Maryland General Hospital. The research objectives for this study are to examine the direct impact of marketing for Maryland General Hospital, to determine a strategy to find the utilization of products and services of the hospital, and to design a marketing strategy for Maryland General Hospital. Research Methodology The impact of direct marketing of Maryland General Hospital and strategies to determine the current utilization of healthcare services of the community that it caters have been determined with the help of the secondary method of research. The data collected for the s tudy are secondary. The data have been obtained from secondary sources such as the electronic websites of the health care provider, journals, etc. The data obtained from the official website of Maryland General Hospital are reliable. The healthcare service activities have been studied from these secondary data sources. The information has been analyzed to design a marketing strategy for Maryland General Hospital and also to determine ways by which the decision of the healthcare recipients could be influenced for wider spread of the healthcare services. Analysis and Findings Maryland General Hospital is located in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The hospital serves majorly Afro-American citizens and lies in a medically underserved area of Baltimore. The hospital has been awarded a score of 38.6 for the medically underserved area, and any score below 62 requires medical services to a higher extent. This has raised the scope of direct marketing for the hospital which im pact has been analyzed below. The hospital has engaged its consultants and internal committees for conducting surveys and direct marketing of its healthcare products and services. As a result, Maryland General Hospital has been able to understand the needs of the community through direct interaction with the members. The health care needs of individuals and their families could be identified and the cost of the healthcare services could be customized in order to serve the medically undeserved area of Baltimore. The direct marketing of healthcare services provides a clear picture of the demographics, income level and the barriers to access healthcare by communities (Maryland General Hospital, 2009). It has been found that about 16.2% of the population in the city of Baltimore are below the federal poverty line and cannot afford the primary healthcare service due to transportation barriers and financial constraints. The direct marketing of the healthcare services of Maryland General H ospital helps the organization to outreach to the people who need basic healthcare services. The strategies that could be adopted by Maryland General Hospital for assessing the utilization of the products and services of the organization are through the conduct of a survey using paper questionnaires and survey questionnaires through the Internet. The hospital could also conduct meetings with the religious leaders and school