Healthcare Marketing - A Desired Change for Indian Consumers of Healthcare Services

Abstract

Healthcare is one of India's largest sectors, in terms of revenue and employment, and the sector is expanding rapidly. During the 1990s, Indian healthcare grew at a compound annual rate of 16%. Today the total value of the sector is more than $34 billion. This translates to $34 per capita, or roughly 6% of GDP. In this increased competition to sustain patient loyalty, overall satisfaction and quality of the healthcare services, in general has to be understood by healthcare providers. The concept of healthcare marketing has led to research on various concepts such as Customer relationship management, High-tech Mobile healthcare, linking strategy to performance improvement (flywheel effect), Use of internet etc. This article studies the patient's desires from hospitals, factors affecting their choice of healthcare provider and their satisfaction levels understood by healthcare providers. Patient satisfaction is a critical part of the quality outcomes of healthcare. Every industry is interested in customer satisfaction because satisfied customers are loyal customers. Many research studies assume that satisfied patients are more likely to recommend their providers to their friends and to return when they need care again. Few questions which hospitals need to ask themselves are how people really make decisions-what they want, what they need and what they'll sacrifice to get what they need. Also, CRM has developed as an approach based on maintaining positive relationships with customers, enhancing customer loyalty, and expanding customer lifetime value. The rise of customer relationship management (CRM), with all its components, is perhaps the greatest threat yet to marketing and marketers. There are five key concepts considered universal truths in defining what motivates the mature market place.