Healthcare Strategy Other

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Health Care

A target market is defined as recognizable segments that make up the market, and the target market consists of the groups the organization wants to focus on (Swayne, Duncan & Ginter, 2008). There are a number of ways that a target market can be understood. The main breakdowns in health care are geography, demographics, payer and specialty (Gandolf, 2010).

Geography is perhaps the simplest one. It reflects the service radius that the hospital wants to serve. In Emanuel's case, does it want to serve mainly Turlock, or does it consider its playing field to be broader. Is it competing for customers in the major towns in the area? In some respects, the other competitors in the market are defining for Emanuel what its geographic target market is, since they are winning customers away from Emanuel.

Demographics reflects the ways of describing the people in your target market. The senior care home that Emanuel runs has a target market of seniors, Cypress, which is different from Emanuel's hospital. The change in target market brought about by EMTALA has changed Emanuel's business somewhat, and perhaps the company has not made adjustments to the way it does business to better align with its new target market. If Emanuel is seeking to focus on Turlock and surrounds, it will not have a demographic target because the potential market is too small. But if it wants to specialize and target people from the larger towns, then it should have a demographic target market in mind.

Payer is another way of understanding the target market for health care. In most businesses, the payer is the user, but in health care the payer is often not the end user. There are a number of different payers -- private individuals, insurance companies and various government programs.

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Emanuel can choose to cut any payer on which it consistently loses money Or, if it realizes that a particular payer is the most common, maybe it tailors its service offering to that payer. For example, Emanuel may have mainly government payers. It might complain about not having money to invest in new equipment, but a predominantly government-pay model means high volumes and low margins, including less frequent investments in equipment.

Lastly, there is specialty. Many health facilities develop specialties, either because they have competency or because they feel there is a market need. If there is something that is underserved in the Emanuel catchment area, then the company can look to specialize in those types of patients. Like an area with a lot of seniors might specialize in gerontology or in ailments that target seniors, for example.

So there are a number of different ways for Emanuel to better understand its target market. Should the company so desire it will be able to utilize target marketing to streamline its operations, market to specific markets, and hopefully just better align its business philosophy and service approach with the needs of its chosen target market, or markets.

Student #2. There are a few approaches that Emanuel can take to define its market. The company right now seems to have relied on its geographic positioning, being in a small town, but as it seen a lot that is not enough. People are more than willing to drive farther to save some money or to get better service. Thus, it is important for any health care provider to start thinking like a marketer and really get a better sense on who it is that they serve.

Now, among the ways to break down and define the market is by age, income, job.....

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