title: Marketing environment dynamics and implications for pricing strategies: the case of home health care.
abstract: This research reviews the factors affecting the pricing or rate schedules of home health care agencies. A large number of factors affect costs and thus rate structures. The major factors include reimbursement structures with accompanying discount structures, administrative burdens, and risks. Channel issues include bargaining power, competition, and size. Staffing issues affect pricing and product through the provider level, productivity, and quality outcomes. Physician and patient issues include quality concerns and choices. These factors are discussed in light of overall marketing strategy and the interaction of pricing with other marketing controllables such as product, place/distribution, and promotion. Economic and accounting principles are also reviewed with consideration to understanding direct and indirect costs in order to enable negotiators to effectively price health care services.
authors.affiliation: Sonoma State University, School of Business and Economics, Rohnert Park, CA 94928, USA. brenda.ponsford@sonoma.edu
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Ponsford
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barlow
mesh_terms: D000066:Accounting; D002204:Capitation Fee; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000639:trends; D006302:Health Services Research; D018574:Home Care Agencies / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008329:Managed Care Programs; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008484:Medicaid; D006278:Medicare; D010358:Patient Participation; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011907:Rate Setting and Review; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D014481:United States