title: Carolinas HealthCare attends to patients, amenities; builds business.
abstract: Carolinas HealthCare System has grown into a nearly two billion dollar entity by focusing on patient needs and amenities in its health care facilities. Growth of the system, the largest in North and South Carolina, is due in large part to Harry A. Nurkin, president and CEO, who started out with a run-down hospital for indigents. With the approval of the hospital board, Nurkin launched a marketing effort that included taking a lesson from the founders of the Holiday Inn hotel chain. He remodeled and developed facilities that are pleasing to patients and visitors, moved patient parking closer to the hospitals' front doors, taught key hospital personnel the basics about marketing, aligned the system with ABA and NFL teams and conducted an aggressive advertising program.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rees
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015285:Hospital-Patient Relations; D006801:Humans; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D009657:North Carolina; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D013022:South Carolina