For the first component of the Session Long Project, your task is to write a 2-3 page essay about a health care organization with which you are involved, or are familiar. Specifically, your tasks are to select an organization and describe it. Then, discuss the main challenges in marketing that organization. Assignment Expectations: You will be expected to: 1. Focus your response to this component of the SLP specifically on the main marketing challenges that the organization faces. 2. Apply principles from the background materials in discussing the organization. 3. Provide a scholarly basis for your response. 4. Justify your opinions with evidence from the literature. 5. Cite several scholarly references for this assignment. 6. Properly cite your references in the text of your essay (either in parentheses or in footnotes), as well as at the end. 7. Limit your response to 3 pages maximum for each modular component of the SLP. The health care organization with which I am familiar and involved is Kaiser Permanente where I work as an Emergency Room Registered Nurse and later promoted to management. Kaiser Permanente was founded in 1945, is the nation’s largest not-for-profit health plan, serving 9.1 million members, with headquarters in Oakland, California. At Kaiser Permanente, physicians are responsible for medical decisions, continuously developing and refining medical practices to ensure that care is delivered in the most effective manner possible. Kaiser Permanente combines a nonprofit insurance plan with its own hospitals and clinics, is the kind of holistic health system that President Obama’s health care law encourages. It still operates in a half-dozen states from Maryland to Hawaii and is looking to expand... ... middle of paper ... ...es. Practice what Kaiser preach, live long and thrive for better life. References: Abelson, Reed. (2013, March 20). The Face of Future Health Care. Retrieved on November 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/kaiser-permanente-is-seen-as-face-of-future-health-care.html?_r=1& Lofgren, Diane Gage & Cantu, Debbie (2010, Summer). Thrive. Retrieved on November 2013 from http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary/Publications/MarketingHealthServices/2010/30/3/Five%20lessons.pdf Powers, Thomas & Jack, Eric P. (2008). Using volume flexible strategies to improve customer satisfaction and performance in health care services. The Journal of Services Marketing 22.3 (2008): 188-197. Retrieved from Proquest on November 2013 from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.trident.edu:2048/docview/212658540/141F39DFDF97F1744E7/1?accountid=28844
Membership Services (MSD) at Kaiser Permanente used to be a modest department of sixty staff. However, over the past few years the department has doubled in size, creating minor departmental reorganization. In addition the increase of departmental staffing, several challenges became apparent. The changes included primary job function, as well as the introduction of new network system software which slowed down the processes of other departments. These departments included Claims (who pay the bills for service providers outside of the Kaiser Permanente network), and Patient Business Services (who send invoices to members for services received within Kaiser Permanente). Due to the unforeseen challenges created by the system upgrade, it was decided that MSD would process the calls for both of the affected departments. Unfortunately, this created a catastrophic event of MSD receiving numerous phone calls from upset members—who had received bills a year after the service had been provided. The average Monday call volume had risen from 1,800 to 2,600 calls per day. The average handling time for each phone call had risen as well—from an acceptable standard of 5.6 minutes to an unfavorable 7.2 minutes. The department continued to be kept inundated with these types of calls for the two years that these changes have been effect.
Kaiser Permanente’s mission is to provide care assistance to those in need. As a health maintenance organization, Kaiser Permanente provides preventive care such as prenatal care, immunizations, diagnostics, hospital medical and pharmacy services. Also, they take responsibility and provide exceptional training for their future health professionals for better clinical performance and treatment for the patients. The organization is to ensure fair and proper treatment towards their employees for a pleasant working environment in hospital and to provide medical services especially in a growing population in suburban communities, such as Tracy and Stockton in California.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSFL) Operating Services is Florida’s largest insurer, serving more than 6 million residents in total. Three trends that redefine how Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida brings value to its members are through consumer empowerment, E-business, and financial services modernization. BCBSFL holds approximately 30% of the HMO market share in Florida, which is twice the share of its nearest competitor. BCBSFL offers a BlueComplements program filled with discounts and services that allow members to stay healthy. Theses advantages include Healthy Alternatives, Vision One, TruVision, Hearx, GlobalFit, SafeTech, and Walgreens Mail Order Pharmacy.
- Wolper, Lawrence F. Health Care Administration: Planning, Implementing, and Managing Organized Delivery Systems. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen, 1999
It is enthralling to note that in spite of the advances in healthcare systems, such as our hospital’s ability to provide patients with lower cost, managed One being the Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), which was first proposed in the 1960s by Dr. Paul Elwood in the "Health Maintenance Strategy”. The HMO concept was created to decrease increasing health care costs and was set in law as the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973, after promotion from the Nixon Administration. HMO would, in exchange for a fee, allow members access to employed physicians and facilities. In return, the HMO received market access and could earn federal development funds.
“KP is the largest non-profit health care delivery system in the United States, and operates in 8 states and the District of Columbia. KP is made up of 3 entities: the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan (KFHP), Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (KFH), and the regional Permanente Medical Groups,” (Selevan, Kindermann, Pines, and Fields (2015). Selevan al et (2015) state that the members of Kaiser Permanente can be compared to other insurance companies in regards to age, race, and employment status, although the members are known to have lower income levels. Additionally, they found that Kaiser Permanente’s model of care focuses on improving the health of patients, promoting population
Despite the established health care facilities in the United States, most citizens do not have access to proper medical care. We must appreciate from the very onset that a healthy and strong nation must have a proper health care system. Such a health system should be available and affordable to all. The cost of health services is high. In fact, the ...
Shi, L., & Singh, D.A. (2008). Delivering healthcare in america. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
It is no secret that the current healthcare reform is a contentious matter that promises to transform the way Americans view an already complex healthcare system. The newly insured population is expected to increase by an estimated 32 million while facing an expected shortage of up to 44,000 primary care physicians within the next 12 years (Doherty, 2010). Amidst these already overwhelming challenges, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly scrutinized to identify ways to improve cost containment and patient access (Curits & Netten, 2007). “Growing awareness of the importance of health promotion and disease prevention, the increased complexity of community-based care, and the need to use scarce human healthcare resources, especially family physicians, far more efficiently and effectively, have resulted in increased emphasis on primary healthcare renewal.” (Bailey, Jones & Way, 2006, p. 381).
As part of the health care reform, many hospitals have focused their marketing strategies on population health management as part of the transformation to value-based care. Managing population health requires a close relationships with physicians, partnerships with organizations in the community, and expansion into preventive and outpatient care and therefore must be implemented further. Likewise, comprised as key components are investing in technology - to connect with physicians, customers and the community and gather data necessary for improving quality (Takvorian, 2015) and merging with other hospitals and health care systems - consolidation as a strategy to gain capital necessary for health IT investments, outpatient facility construction, physician partnerships and other projects (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2015; Ropak, 2012).
Kaiser Permanente (KP) started from manufacturing healthcare for construction, shipyard, and steel mill workers in the late 1930s and 1940s. The healthcare plan was available to the public in October 1945. The ideology behind prepayment healthcare started during the Great Depression with a surgeon and a twelve hospital bed in California. Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care group, founded in 1945 by Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. KP is made up of three distinct groups of body: the Kaiser Health Plan; Kaiser Hospitals; and Permanente Medical Groups. As of 2014, Kaiser Permanente are in eight states and the District of Columbia, and is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the United States. According to the fast fact from its own web site, “Kaiser Permanente has 9.6 million health plan members, 174,415 employees, 17,425 physicians, 38 medical centers, and 618 medical offices. For 2011, the non-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals entities reported a $56.4 billion in operating revenues” (Fast Facts about Kaiser
As I began watching Reinventing Healthcare-A Fred Friendly Seminar (2008), I thought to myself, “man, things have changed since 2008.” And as the discussion progressed, I started to become irritated by how little had changed. The issues discussed were far-reaching, and the necessity for urgent change was a repeated theme. And yet, eight years later, health care has made changes, but many of its crucial problems still exist.
Soman,D & Marand, S (2009). Managing Customer Value: One Stage at a Time.: World Scientific Publishing. p9-14.
In this unit, we will be discussing real-life healthcare organizations, the 5 P’s of healthcare marketing, and evaluation strategies that may be used to determine marketing potential. Select and provide a general overview of three (3) healthcare organizations that interest you. Discuss the 5 P’s of healthcare marketing to each healthcare organization. Elaborate how the 5 P’s of healthcare marketing may impact the marketing potential of a healthcare organization. Discuss an assessment or evaluation strategy which may be used to help determine the marketing potential of an organization.
Barton, P.L. (2010). Understanding the U.S. health services system. (4th ed). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.