Better Health, Inc. Provides Optimal Healthcare Services to Ensure Cradle-To-Grave Continuity

Marketing Plan 1

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1. Management Summary

Better Health, Inc. provides optimal healthcare services to ensure cradle-to-grave continuity of care for patients at all stages of the lifecycle, from newborn to geriatric. The organization centers upon primary care physician services (PCP) to fill a pressing community need for general practitioners. The intention of this group is to cultivate enduring, long-term relationships with patients, families, and caregivers, serving as patients’ first line of defense and go-to resource to secure their physical and mental healthcare needs. This will include serving as a clearing house and focal point for patients’ access to specialization services and community resources as needed. The goal is to promote patients’ quality of life through unsurpassed healthcare, health education, and access to needed medical and community-based support services.

Better Health, Inc. will be created as a Phoenix Healthcare Limited Liability Company (LLC) based in Jefferson County, Missouri. It will be owned by principal investors and owner/operators and will employee 100-250 personnel, including a staff of 15-20 primary care physicians, 25-35 primary care physicians’ assistants (PA) and nurse practitioners (NP), and 50-75 nursing, laboratory, and medical technical staff. The remaining staff will be administrative and tertiary personnel. This primary office will be located in northern St. Louis, near the campuses of the premier in-patient and outpatient healthcare facilities serving the Midwest region and featuring a regional hospital, rehabilitation center, and specialty care providers for easy patient referral.

Market research has identified an urgent need for primary care physicians in this region, with recent projections showing that more than 50% of adults within a 100 mile radius of Jefferson County actively are interested in seeking new a new primary care provider. Of those, an estimated 70% currently have no PCP with whom they consult on a regular basis. The ability to tap into this market segment will ensure the cultivation of patient/provider relationships across many years, and is intended to promote the provision of whole family care. Thus, the scope of service is expanded across time and patient base—serving multiple members of a family across many years—in contradistinction to specialty services, which often are of shorter duration and are single patient oriented.

1. Economic Projections

The focus of this organization on primary as opposed to specialty care is in alignment with

economic projects which forecast a dramatic surge in consumer demand with these services in this area. This demand coincides with a predicted decline in PCP service providers, as more general practitioners retire and new physicians increasingly opt to specialize rather than entering primary care. The population demographics of show that more than 50% of the population are working adults above age 40. As this cohort continues to age, the demand for consistent primary care will grow. Further, a Norwegian study by Hansen, Kristoffersen, Lian, and Halvorsen (2014) reveals that on-going relationships with general practitioners/primary care providers reduces incidences of hospitalization, emergency services, and alternative or specialty care (p. 223). This patient cohort will actively seek out PCP care and is likely to utilize this care routinely, with greater frequency than specialty and alternative services are used. Further, with more of the population now ensured due to the Healthcare Reform Act, and with the Act’s emphasis on disease prevention, the demand for primary care services is only expected to grow. According to our research of current economic and social trends, Better Health Inc. is expected to be producing a greater than 50% profit margin by Year 5.

1. The Market—Qualitative

Because of its emphasis on primary car, Better Health, Inc. will be marketed to all segments

the adult population because any demographic can benefit from these services. However, two principal markets will be focused on most intensively: working adults with 15 years of retirement age and younger adults with small children or those preparing to start a family. The focus will be those who are ensured either through an employer or through ObamaCare, as this segment of the population has been proven by research to be more interested in primary care, and more apt to seeks services on a routine basis, particularly for the purposes of health management and education and disease prevention.

Adults within 15 years or retirement age tend to be more concerned about health maintenance and disease prevention and are more likely to desire an ongoing relationship with a primary care provider. Murphy, Shirar, Tapia, Pritchett, Parsons, & McLemore (2014) have demonstrated the particular importance of the PCP relationship to geriatric patients. Likewise, younger adults with small children, research has shown, are often seeking to build relationships with practitioners that can endure indefinitely as the family grows.

1. The Market—Quantitative

Research shows a strong and growing market for Better Health, Inc., with projections of 45%

growth in the insured patient market and 31% growth in self-insured patients in the first five years. Projections suggest the following for the first five years of business:

1. Trend Analysis

With the passage of the Healthcare Reform Act, the number of uninsured Americans is project

to dramatically decrease over the next five years, while the demand for preventative and primary care is expected to sharply increase. Additionally, as the adult population ages, long-term disease management and preventive healthcare of the kind Better Health will provide, patient care centered upon the cultivation of a well-developed relationship between patients, families, and PC providers, is projected to become more urgently demanded, particularly in areas such as the one served by Better Health, which has historically be characterized by a shortage of PC providers that is anticipated to worsen across the next five years. Further, as millennials enter the workforce and begin families of their own, they anticipate a full-service model of healthcare, one in which a primary care provider knows them intimately and is able to provide the individualized and personal care that specialists and alternative treatment centers typically cannot provide.

1. Competition

There is at present only one institution within a 100 mile radius offering the kind of

Primary Care services Better Health will offer, but it is 75 miles from the campus of the region’s primary hospital system, whereas Better Health offices will be within a 5 to 10 minute drive of the system’s main hospital, specialists, and tertiary treatment facilities. Currently, patients who would prefer to the services of a PCP opt to see a specialist or alternative care provider rather than driving 75 miles to offices of the nearest primary care provider.

1. Problems and Opportunities

There are a number of problems Better Health will need to deal with strategically. The

first will be the recruitment of primary care providers in the face of a national shortage and growing need. This is exacerbated by the fact that there are no teaching hospitals in the area served by Better Health, as research has shown that new physicians tend to practice near where they trained (Charles, Gaul, & Foley, 2011).

Another challenge is the current volatile nature of the healthcare industry itself, including ongoing challenges to the Healthcare Reform Act and continuing economic instability which may make even well-insured patients reluctant to seek non-emergent cared.

The opportunities, however, are equally rich insofar as the trend continues to be toward preventive care and disease management. The demand for continuity of care is present and growing, and Better Health, Inc. will be the only organization of its kind within 75 miles (where our nearest competitor is located) to offer these services.

1. Objectives and Goals

Within the first year of operation, Better Health’s goal is to recruit a cohort of 10

primary care providers caring for 750 new patients. Better Health also intends to launch a comprehensive outreach program by developing health literacy initiatives, with training seminars to be delivered by Better Health care providers in schools, workplaces, and community centers. This is intended to build the company profile and drive patient acquisition. At the end of five years, Better Health’s goal to have tripled its PCP staff and to have exceeded projected market growth.

The qualitative goals of Better Health is to meet a desperate need in the community for quality, ongoing patient care, for community health management and the prevention of chronic, sometimes fatal disease, particularly due to the alarming rise in obesity rates. Better Health’s objective is to serve aging adults and young families principally, those most desirous of a productive relationship with one’s healthcare team.

The quantitative goals of Better Health are greater than 45% growth, a 65% regional market share, and 50% profitability after five years.

1. Action Programs

To achieve stated goals, the community outreach programs, including health education

seminars, will be used to drive the company profile and name recognition. Further, these initiatives will propel patient acquisition. This will be combined with intensive provider recruitment methods, including outreach to the nation’s best teaching hospitals. Finally, a governing board of administrators, operators, and shareholders will be convened and will work in conjunction with, not separate from, care providers to promote business best practices while optimizing patient care. This is to drive profitability, patient satisfaction, and business growth.

References

Charles, A., Gaul, K., & Poley, S. (2011). Surgical workforce in the American south. The American Surgeon, 77(2), 133-138.

Hansen, A.H., Kristoffersen, AE, Lian, O.S., & Halvorsen, P.A. (2014). Continuity of GP care is associated with lower use of complementary and alternative medical providers: A population-based crossed-sectional survey. BMC Health Services Research, 14, 629

Murphy, D.J., Shirar, L.E., Tapia, S.M., Pritchet, G.H., Parsons, D., & McLemore, C. (2014). Building from within. Today’s Geriatric Medicine, 7(6), 10-13.