Concepts in service marketing for healthcare professionals.
Patients are becoming increasingly involved in making healthcare choices as their burden of healthcare costs continues to escalate. At the same time, healthcare has entered a tightened market economy. For these reasons, the marketing of healthcare services has become essential for the financial survival of physicians and healthcare organizations. Physicians can successfully use the fundamental service marketing principles proven by other service industries to win patient satisfaction and loyalty and remain competitive in today's market economy. Understanding concepts such as service quality zone of tolerance, levels of consumer satisfaction, the branding of services, patient participation, and service recovery can be useful in achieving these goals.
Carol Martin Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky, 40536, Lexington, KY, USA.
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D003258:Consumer Behavior; D006298:Health Services Administration; D006801:Humans; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011216:Practice Management, Medical; D011357:Product Line Management; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States