Financial and Ethical Impact Analysis for ECRHS’s Current Healthcare Marketing Strategy for Upper Market Paper

Financial and Ethical Impact Analysis for ECRHS’s Current Healthcare Marketing Strategy for Upper Market Paper

East Chestnut Regional Health System (ECRHS) is a merger of three organizations: East River Medical Center (ERMC), Northern Mountain Consortium, and Archway Hospital (AH). Within the last decade, the merger has served patient populations from various counties, including Chestnut, Walnut, Butternut, Oak, and Maple County. With the current dynamics in healthcare systems, ECRHS is susceptible to stiff competition, regulatory changes, and the need to spearhead its marketing strategy to increase profits and improve services. Consequently, this paper is a financial and ethical analysis of ECRHS’s current marketing strategies. It focuses on its mission and objectives, organizational structure and culture, current marketing approaches, financial analysis, competitive advantage, value chain, target market, and external environmental factors.

Mission and Objectives

ECRHS serves a mission of making a difference by improving quality of life through excellence in service and a vision of becoming a leader in developing and delivering superior health and human services (Chestnut Health Systems, n.d.). The organization incorporates various core values into daily operations to fulfill the institutional mission and vision. These values include quality and safety, health equity and fairness, fostering strength through diversity and inclusion, ensuring communication and transparency, Interdisciplinary collaboration, supporting innovation and strategic growth, and valuing clients, patients, and employees (Chestnut Health Systems, n.d.). Besides the profound values, ECRHS seeks to strengthen recovery by implementing five essential principles; hope, empowerment, health and wellness, respect, spirituality and connectedness. The organizational mission, vision, core values, and recovery values form the basis of institutional objectives.

Organizational Structure and Culture

The determination to achieve the organizational mission and vision prompts ECRHS to have a robust organizational structure and a supportive culture. Before the formation of a merger of the three organizations, the anchor organization (East River Medical Center) and Archway Hospital (AH) used a decentralized leadership system. However, this structure led to various issues, including poor performance and declined profits. After the merger, ECHRS ushered in new management, where the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the head of the management committee (the New Alliance of East Chestnut Regional Health System). Also, the organization created new positions that operate under the CEO: the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO), the corporate counsel, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), and the Senior Vice President for Human Resources. Finally, the organization retained the remaining leadership team from the old regime, including information technology, the marketing team, human resources, physician group leadership, and directors.

The introduction of new positions and the inception of new management facilitated the cultivation of a supportive organizational culture. According to Assens-Serra et al. (2021), organizational culture is “a pattern of basic values and presuppositions that are shared and learned by a group while resolving the problems of external adaptation and internal integration” (p. 1). ECRHS has a collaborative culture that anchors respect, consensus decision-making, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. Although the organization is susceptible to market dynamics and external issues such as competition, the presence of a collaborative and supportive culture has enabled it to remain competitive and relevant in the community.

Current Marketing Strategies

ECRHS emphasizes innovative marketing strategies to beat competition from organizations in the same industry, like Banford Medical Center (BMC). For instance, the CEO has conceptualized and presented new demands to the marketing department. These demands focus on various advanced marketing approaches, including developing a new marketing plan for new physicians, integrating a branding strategy, and content marketing using social media, materials bearing the brand name, and visuals such as billboards. Kotler & Armstrong (2019) argue that building brand equity and developing an integrated marketing mix are major modern marketing concepts. By focusing on these strategies, ECRHS enjoys the plausibility of improved competitive advantage and profitability.

Current Financial Analysis

As a for-profit organization, financial analysis is a profound approach for ensuring resource sustainability for ECRHS. The organization is not on the right track regarding financial performance. For instance, the payer mix has deteriorated in recent years. Also, the long-standing joint venture with a national insurance company for commercial insurance has not proceeded as anticipated. However, there are opportunities for financial sustainability considering that the 15% Medicaid has helped ECHR to gain additional disproportionate share dollars, which could facilitate organizational processes. The organization needs to form partnerships, engage in collaborative deals, and emphasize modern marketing strategies to broaden its financial base and reach more consumers.

Competitive Advantage

East Chestnut Regional Health System (ECRHS) faces stiff competition from other regional and local for-profit and not-for-profit health organizations. However, it has remained competitive, relevant, and reputable due to profound factors that form the basis of its competitive advantage. For example, ECRHS is a level 1 trauma center with a regional oncology center located northwest of Chester. Completing the new oncology canter has created a magnet of referrals to the oncologists, increasing the volume and revenues by 4%. In the same breath, the organization emphasizes modern marketing strategies such as social media marketing, a brand strategy, and a framework of communication to manage any negative outcomes of legal matters. According to Elrod & Fortenberry (2018), expanding the boundaries of traditional branding thoughts, owning digital billboards, and modeling patient experiences are essential for bolstering organizations’ competitive advantage. By implementing these approaches, ECRHS can cope and thrive in the ever-dynamic, competitive industry.

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Current Value Chain

Healthcare organizations are under intense pressure to improve services to enhance traditional supply chains performance determinants like costs, quality, and customer experience (Dobrzykowski, 2019). ECRHS implements various approaches for guaranteeing the achievement of the current value chain. These strategies include applying a business model to transform its services, improving care delivery infrastructure, and developing partnerships with other active healthcare organizations like Primary Health Care Medical Home and the Nursing Credential Center. Inter-organizational collaboration and participations improve ECRHS’s collaborator value, enhance its reputation, and bolster care delivery capacity.

Current Target Market

ECRHS can capitalize on the profound target market of women and people with heart conditions. For instance, women in the served counties are interested in various services, including breast care, female doctors, physicals for women, and general gynecology services. In the same breath, about 72% of women in Chestnut could prefer using the women’s services of East Chestnut Regional Medical Center. Equally, patients with heart conditions require a physician-approved source of information and a nurse help line to improve information exchange and care coordination. These factors provide opportunities for broadening the consumer base.

External Environmental Factors

ECRHS is susceptible to changes in external environmental factors such as population dynamics, inter-agency partnerships, competition, and the widespread use of health information technologies. For instance, rapid population growth in Chestnut and other counties has provided opportunities for expanding women’s health services, oncology, and emergency. Also, stiff competition from Banford Medical Center (BMC) has prompted the organization to implement modern marketing strategies and improve service delivery mechanisms. Further, ECRHS has invested massively in information technology infrastructure to support nursing informatics and ensure information and services interoperability. These external factors have influenced how the organization manages change to support quality improvement initiatives.

Conclusion

East Chestnut Regional Health System is a reputable organization that serves a broad consumer base in various counties, including Chestnut, Walnut, Butternut, Oak, and Maple County. The organization thrives in the ever-changing and competitive industry due to its commitment to improving competitive advantage and service delivery mechanisms. Therefore, this financial and ethical impact analysis reveals elements of ECRHS’s culture and competitive advantage, including mission and objectives, institutional culture and structure, marketing strategies, financial analysis, value chain, target market, and external environmental factors.

 

References

Assens-Serra, J., Boada-Cuerva, M., Serrano-Fernández, M.-J., & Agulló-Tomás, E. (2021). Gaining a better understanding of the types of organizational culture to manage suffering at work. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.782488

Chestnut Health Systems. (n.d.). Mission, vision & values. https://www.chestnut.org/about-us/mission-vision-and-values/

Dobrzykowski, D. (2019). Understanding the downstream healthcare supply chain: Unpacking regulatory and industry characteristics. Journal of Supply Chain Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12195

Elrod, J. K., & Fortenberry, J. L. (2018). Catalyzing marketing innovation and competitive advantage in the healthcare industry: The value of thinking like an outsider. BMC Health Services Research, 18(S3). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3682-9

Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2019). Principles of marketing (17th ed.). Pearson Higher Education.

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Create a 1,050-word Financial and Ethical Impact Analysis for ECRHS’s current health care marketing strategy for upper management, based on
the above factors.
Include a summary of each section in your analysis:
• Mission and objectives
• Organizational structure and culture
• Current marketing strategies
• Current financial analysis
• Competitive advantage
• Current value chain
• Current target market
• External environmental factors
MHACB/506 Competency 1 Rubric

Cite at least 3 reputable references to support your assignment (e.g., trade or industry publications, government or agency sites, scholarly works,
or other sources of similar quality).