The main characteristics of Novant Health Center are attributed to its mission, vision along with its brand. Novant Health Organization is a non-profit health facility which comprises 15 health centers, 1,123 physicians posted in 343 clinical centers. The hospital has community-based programs, outpatient surgery clinics, rehabilitation institutions, medical centers, and diagnosing locations. The hospital has a total of 24,400 employees who take care of patients in different areas including Virginia, Georgia, North and South Carolina ("Company information | Novant Health," 2018) . The characteristics of the hospital’s products and services include:
Professionalism
The healthcare professionals of the hospital including senior physicians and nurses must attend board meetings. The health providers must be professional for them to contribute ideas in the meeting to improve the health services in the health center. The employees are supposed to create pleasant surroundings to give an assurance to their clients that their services are credible and reliable ("Characteristics of a Health Care Provider," n.d.) .
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Emotional Support
The health providers of Novant Hospital must handle critical situations including taking care of patients with terminal illnesses. The employees have to deal with stress under various circumstances such as handling the death of a patient. It is the role of the health professionals to provide mental, physical, and emotional care to the patient. The hospital employees offer emotional support to the bereaved families. The health provider should be emotionally stable to prevent specific incidences from influencing their job performance ("Characteristics of a Health Care Provider," n.d.) .
Sharp appearance
The health providers of Novant Hospital are neatly dressed. The hospital expects that the employees should be well groomed. Novant health center does not allow the employees to wear jewelry or accessories when working ("Characteristics of a Health Care Provider," n.d.) .
Good communicator
The employees of Novant Hospital possess excellent communication skills. This allows them to communicate with their clients on their strategies and policies. The health providers have excellent listening skills which assist them to address the concerns of their patients. The health professionals have established good communication among themselves to assist in exchanging ideas ("Characteristics of a Health Care Provider," n.d.) .
Caring
The employees of Novant Hospital handle patients who are severely ill. They should provide a favorable environment to their clients for them to be comfortable. The health providers should show compassion and use kind words when addressing the patients along with their families ("Characteristics of a Health Care Provider," n.d.) .
Detail-oriented
The health professionals should adhere to the directions and regulation of the hospital when dealing with patients. It is essential to follow the rules to make sure the patients get the right treatment ("Company information | Novant Health," 2018) .
Health Consultancy
Health consultancy is among the services that are provided by Novant Medical Centre. The managers should make sure that they improve the brand name of the hospital to develop the demand for the consulting services. Healthcare facilities, institutions, and individuals access consulting services in hospitals that are widely recognized.
Patients
Patients are the primary target market of Novant Hospital. Although the hospital is located in the United States, they aim to meet the medical needs of patients around the world. The managers should make sure that they improve the hospital's brand to enhance the demand for their services ( Berkowitz, 2010). The patients are categorized into in-patients and out-patients. The hospital should make sure they meet the medical needs of the two types of patients.
Students
Students who have specialized in health sciences are a target of Novant Hospital. The hospital provides academic programmes that are related to health sciences. The management should make sure that the hospital recruits the high performing students (Courtney, 2013). This goal can be met by making sure that the hospital utilizes advanced technology and has an established brand.
Analysis of the Competitive Environment
In the healthcare sector, the competition posed by Novant Hospital affects relationships with other healthcare centers. The hospital encourages competition among its employees to improve the quality of the services provided to the patients. Competition makes sure that the product and facilities offered to the clients are of high-quality to meet their tastes. The traditional game of hospitals comprises price, quality, convenience, and superior products or services. Advanced technology and innovation can bring competition. The primary function of competition in the health sector is to offer a mechanism to reduce the expenses of health facilities. Competition reduces inefficiencies associated with high manufacturing expenses. These costs are incurred by the patients where the health facilities increase the prices of their products and services.
The hospitals will increase as a result of improved medical insurance among the citizens. The management of Novant Medical Centre should formulate strategies that are aimed at enhancing their general competitiveness. The healthcare facility is utilizing a marketing mix that is a target for increasing the supply of products and services. The hospital needs to take into account a marketing mix strategy that will improve the provision of its services. Novant Hospital will increase its margins when they adopt a new marking mix.
Product innovation and research are significant challenges in the healthcare sector. The costs of carrying out research and development are high. It takes time for the hospital to make improvements in their facilities ( Berkowitz, 2010). Novant Medical Center should merge or partner with other healthcare institutions for them to improve their products through conducting research. The hospital will meet the medical needs of their patients due to the improvement they will make.
Novant Hospital should implement relationship marketing as a course of action to its completion. Relationship marketing aims to build and sustain good customer relationships through the provision of excellent customer care services. The marketing strategy will assist in creating customer loyalty and establishing the hospital’s brand (Spehar, Frich & Kjekshus, 2014) . Concerning branding, the marketing approach is in line with the hospital’s goal of establishing its brand.
Determining which tool of the marketing mix available to health care
Promotion along with price is the appropriate marketing tools for Novant Hospital. The improvement will assist the hospital in creating awareness of their products and services that they provide in the market (Fortenberry, 2010). Individuals purchase products that they are aware of their existence. The management of Novant Hospital should access the services of an advertising company. The company will create advertisements for Novant Medical Center. The purpose of the ads is to give information to the customers about the healthcare organization and the products they offer.
The advertising companies will assist the hospital to establish the appropriate network for promoting their products and services. The target market will influence the decision that will be made on the suitable media. The internet and television will be the appropriate media for airing the hospital’s advertisements (Fortenberry, 2010). The target market including students, patients, and healthcare employee is interested in viewing the physical facilities of the hospital. The clients will decide on visiting the hospital by the perception of its physical presence.
The managers of Novant Medical Centre should implement an outstanding pricing strategy. The pricing strategy to be incorporated in the hospital should cater for the demand and availability of products. Novant Hospital should adopt a pricing plan that will encourage the patients to access high-quality healthcare services around its location (Fortenberry, 2010). The goal can be met through establishing connections between Novant Hospital and the local government. The state can offer subsidies o the clients who visit the hospital regularly.
Determine the best possible pricing strategy for at least one of the products or services offered by the healthcare provider you selected.
The primary facilities offered by Novant Medical Center are in-patient and out-patient consulting services. These methods of consultation are essential phases of receiving medical care ( Berkowitz, 2010). In this stage, the health professionals diagnose the various signs that the patient exhibits. After this, they determine the type of disease that the patient has. Subsequently, the physicians give recommendations on the kind of treatment that the individual need to take.
Concerning the importance of in-patient and out-patient services, the management of Novant Hospital should make sure that the prices of the services are affordable to everyone. The hospital will improve the accessibility of high-quality health facilities in the United States. The pricing strategy will have a positive impact on the demand for facilities offered by Novant Medical Center ( Berkowitz, 2010). This will help some patients who had undergone diagnosis to receive treatment in the hospital.
The affordable prices of in-patient and out-patient facilities in the hospital will have a positive impact in the community. The members of the society will receive a proper diagnosis of their diseases and will get the appropriate medical treatment. Most people are not aware of their conditions due to the high consultation fee in the healthcare facilities. The reduction in the prices of consultation will result in increasing the number of patients who will access regular check-ups. The pricing strategy will improve the reputation of the hospital and establish their brand. The health facility will experience an increase in their margins and will attract high-skilled medical professionals due to the improvements in their regulations.
References
Berkowitz, E. (2010). Essentials of Health Care Marketing. New York: Jones & Barlett.
Company information | Novant Health. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.novanthealth.org/home/about-us/company-information.aspx
Courtney, K. (2013). Enabling Health and Healthcare Through ICT: Available, Tailored and Closer. New York: IOS.
Characteristics of a Health Care Provider. Retrieved from https://careertrend.com/list-6639374-characteristics-health-care-provider.html
Fortenberry, J. (2010). Health Care Marketing: Tools and Techniques. New York: Jones and Barlett.
Spehar, I., Frich, J. C., & Kjekshus, L. E. (2014). Clinicians in management: a qualitative study of managers’ use of influence strategies in hospitals. BMC health services research , 14 (1), 251.
