title: An exploratory investigation of hospice marketing: How are palliative care providers marketing their services?
abstract: Hospice and palliative care is a recent, but fast growing, industry in healthcare. Demographics suggest that hospice care will only increase. The purpose of this article is to examine strategic marketing initiatives hospice organizations currently employ. Data were collected at a hospice regional conference, capturing opinions from hospice organizations located in North and South Carolina. The results show that many hospice organizations do not have a dedicated marketing staff person, have a limited marketing budget, do not fully utilize all strategic planning tools, and have yet to differentiate themselves via branding. Implications of these findings for hospice providers are discussed.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business Administration , Winthrop University , Rock Hill , South Carolina , USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.affiliation: a Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business Administration , Winthrop University , Rock Hill , South Carolina , USA.
authors.forename: Cara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: a Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business Administration , Winthrop University , Rock Hill , South Carolina , USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lawson
mesh_terms: D006738:Hospices; D006801:Humans; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D009657:North Carolina; D010166:Palliative Care; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013022:South Carolina
keywords: Hospice; marketing; palliative care; services; strategic