Assess the marketing strategy of the health care organization Walter Reed National Medical Center, Army Medical system or Military Healthcare System) with respect to wellness and prevention. What are the limitations to the current approach?
The health of those involved in the operation of the health care organization at Madigan Army Medical Center is important to those have a stake in the organization. Considering that military health care system is fully funded by taxpayers, the personnel involved in the treatment of military personnel must always maintain a healthy state of being (Horwitz, Kelly, & DiNardo, 2013). Majority of the personnel working at the Madigan Army Medical Center are commissioned officers. Their priority is to ensure that military personnel seeking medical attention in the facility receive the best treatment. It is important to understand that the facility does not only attend to the military personnel, it also offer services to the families of the servicemen.
By prioritizing the wellness and healthy of the military personnel, it significantly reduce a missed working days thus improving productivity greatly. Recent study by Center of Disease Control (CDC) indicated that missed worked days as result of health reasons leads to loss of more 225 billion dollars annual thus negatively affecting productivity of a nation (Bastian, et al., 2016). The other thing associated with prioritization is that it allows the employees to actively participate in their personal health. According to Horwitz et al (2013), wellness and prevention programs are not likely to reduce the rate of insuring employees. Unless the programs incorporates the use of discriminatory cost shifting practices. Therefore, the organization should not adopt one wellness and prevention program that focus on blatant savings
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Madigan Army Medical Center is a military medical facility tasked with the responsibility of promoting wellness and prevention programs through various initiatives that aims at improving the physical and social environment of the military personnel. Madigan Army Medical Center advocates for wellness and healthy living among the military personnel by providing programs designed to promote wellness and prevention (Mello, & Rosenthal, 2008). The clients and stakeholders of Madigan Army Medical Center access the latest information about wellness and prevention programs via employee network and websites fully funded by the Federal government. Therefore, most of the Madigan Army Medical Center marketing efforts in relation to wellness and prevention are carried out through the government sponsored websites. The websites and employees network have been designed to provide various information about the services that are available to the members.
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Limitations
The limitation associated with online marketing of the wellness and prevention programs by Madigan Army Medical Center is that members who are not familiar with website may experience challenges accessing the site. In addition, some members are only aware of employee network hence not accessing other website that may contain information that is lacking in employee network (Bastian, et al., 2016). These discriminatory access to information and vital materials about wellness and prevention programs negatively affects the utilization rate thus impacting the health status of Madigan Army Medical Center’s members.
The second limitation is the lack of incentives to encourage more members to participate in the program. Studies indicated that Madigan Army Medical Center allocates significant amount of resource to maintain the existing wellness and prevention program (Frostin, & Roebuck, 2015). The main objectives of dedicating a significant amount of resources towards the programs is to address the burgeoning problems of chronic diseases that is crippling its members and negatively affecting workplace environment (Bastian, et al., 2016). Despite these efforts the Madigan Army Medical Center has put in place the number of members participating in the program is still minimal. This is because the Madigan Army Medical Center lack the incentives to attract more members towards the program.
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One may argue that members does not find it necessary to participate in the wellness and prevention programs offered by Madigan Army Medical Center because military has already put in place regulations and policies that ensures that its employees regulate their weight and maintain their healthy living (Bastian, et al., 2016). However, it is important to understand that wellness and prevention programs goes beyond regulating weight and preventing illness that are associated with excessive weight gain. Therefore, Madigan Army Medical Center should be put in place incentive that work is addendum with military stipulation already in place in order to improve participation thus enhancing the efficacy of the wellness and prevention program.
Describe how you would improve the wellness and prevention marketing program
There are several methods that Madigan Army Medical Center may use to improve the marketing of the wellness and prevention program. One of the main methods that can be used to improve marketing program is to expand the scope of the marketing campaign. The program should be expanded to go beyond service members which are mainly the Madigan Army Medical Center workforces to include active duty service members such as those having Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). This approach will improve significantly the utilization of the current wellness and prevention program since it will increase the number its members (Horwitz, et al., 2013). The other aspect is the diversification of the program to include military personnel with MOS that is not health associated. This will increase the number of individuals taking part in the program since it is the prerogative of the government to ensure a healthy servicemen. It also increase the efficacy of the program and members who will benefit from the program.
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The second approach is to use of incentives to attract more members to participate in wellness and prevention program. By incentivizing the program more members will be willing to take part thus boosting its marketing efforts and increasing level of involvement. Therefore, Madigan Army Medical Center should market the program based on its benefits and incentive plan. Some of the incentives that can be tied to the program include financial in the form of health insurance (Mello, & Rosenthal, 2008). The incentive plan should be designed in manner that it does not lead to discrimination in the workplace. For example, discrimination in the workplace can arise when the incentives are provided based on the health insurance cost, so that those individual considered as less healthy receives less incentives, while those considered healthier receives more incentives. This can be avoided by establishing a proper guideline that govern the incentives.
The third approach to improve marketing of the program is to increase communication channels to the members. Currently Madigan Army Medical Centers uses two communication channels: employees’ network and websites sponsored by government (Horwitz, et al., 2013). By increasing communication channels, vital information and materials about the program will reach more people. These include organizing symposiums and discussion forums where members who have benefited from program inspires others to take part in the program.
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