Introduction to Health-care  

Its related to well-being of human beings.  

Health-care industry covers: 

• Hospitals 

• Health insurances 

• Medical software 

• Health equipment  

Medical Science and technology has improved a lot.  Combination of tangible and intangible aspect with the intangible aspect dominating the tangible aspect

Product Mix of Hospitals

Product is one of the most prominent elements in the marketing mix. It depends on treatment prescribed by the respective doctors and the facilities offered to the patient.  As a service is intangible, it’s very hard to determine value of the service rendered.  Factors affecting the price mix are: 

• Positioning of the hospital

• product mix 

• ownership type 

Pricing

• No income group: Free  

• Low income group: Subsidized  

• Middle income group: Cost + losses from low income group  

• High income group: Cost + losses from no income group 

Place

• Implies location of the hospital, which is fixed.  

• Surroundings also play an essential role.  

• The kind of services a hospital is rendering is also important for determining the location.  

• In India which is geographically vast and majority lives in rural areas, place of hospitals plays a crucial role.  

• Here, the customer has to go the service provider to avail himself of the services. 

Promotion  

Includes: 

• Advertising in Health and Fitness magazines

• Publicity 

• Word-of-mouth 

• Tie-ups with corporate companies  

Hospitals, 

• Generally do not undertake aggressive promotion.  

• Main motive is to inculcate awareness.  

• Rely heavily on a favourable word-of-mouth.  

• To increase the clientele, a hospital may continuously introduce different health services.  

• Hospitals conduct camps in rural areas to give medical check-ups at a reasonable price.  

• Free medical treatment for celebrities. 

People 

Physical Evidence 

• Smart building

• Logos and Mascots

• Ambience – Lighting, Painting, layout of facilities, etc.

• Exotic food menu

• Cleanliness of the hospital

• Uniforms of the employees

• Rooms

• Equipment's used

Example

• Lilavati Hospital has got and elegant building

• Fortis and Apollo Hospitals have a unique logo, which can be easily identified 

Process

• Is dependent on the size of the hospital and kind of service it is offering.

• Should be customer-friendly

• Can be divided into 3 stages: 

1. The joining phase

2. The intensive consumption phase

3. The detached phase and feedback