Consumer Orientation of Public Hospital Websites - Case Study Example

? International Business Promotion Using Websites Strategies used in Health Care Website Customers seeking information about the services offered at a health facility and the quality of those services mostly turn to the home page on the hospitals website (Ford et al., 2012). According to Angel and Martin Fuentes (2002), more than 100 million Americans go online regularly in search for health information. Visitors of health care websites seek advice from doctors and book appointments through the website thereby avoiding the tedious journeys to the hospital (Spoel, 2008). Reliance on websites for health information has grown steadily given the increase in international trade. Different hospitals have employed different strategies when developing their websites to meet the needs of their clients. Texas hospital website has two distinct sections, patients and families section and a section for the health professional (Texas Children’s Hospital, 2012). The website carries popup messages where the purpose of the hospital is described as ‘to heal the child’. Moreover, the pop up messages advertise the services offered by the hospital and describe its commitment to superior services ‘now delivering miracles’. The websites give a guarantee to the clients that its specialists are always advancing their pediatric care daily to ensure their services are up-to-date to emerging medical concerns. On Texas Children Hospital website, patients can find a specific doctor, view their professional qualifications and book an appointment (Texas Children’s Hospital, 2012). Moreover, customers can view all the departments or services offered and the time one can assess such services. Additionally, the specific location of such services well described and the professionals working in that department. This gives assurance to the customers that they receive quality services from accredited care givers. Given that previous health record is important for future visits to Texas Children Hospital or another hospital. Texas Children’s Hospital has an account for parents to access the health record of the children. Stanford Hospitals and Clinics have developed a website to serve its international customers. Under the international medical services section, Stanford Hospital describes that it offers superior services to its customers pointing out that patients from different parts of the world travel to the hospital annually (Stanford Hospitals and Clinics, 2012). This is a strategy to give confidence to a patient in a dilemma either to go treatment at Stanford or seek treatment in their local country where the hospital assures them that it is worthwhile to make a trip to Stanford Hospital. The hospital promises its international visitors individualized care that is able to meet the needs of the patients and their families before and after treatment. The hospital has a personal patient coordinator who in addition to arranging for a patient’s visit to the hospital organizes for their stay at in San Francisco Bay Area (Stanford Hospitals and Clinics, 2012). This demonstrates a commitment to customer service. The hospital website outlines the services offered by hospital including identifying a specific doctor to meet the medical needs of the patients and interpretation of languages which is a strategy to ensure that some patients do not feel left out. To ensure that patients prepare themselves for the visit, they are given an estimate of their medical bills. Patients can book for appointments online thereby reducing time wastage when travelling for treatment. At Phuket International Hospital, offering services to patients from diverse backgrounds has led the hospital employ international staff. At this hospital, the management recognized importance of effective diagnosis and, therefore, language barrier is dealt with by ensuring that the employees speaking a variety of languages. The hospital helps its patients make insurance claims and liaises with the embassy, family doctor to ensure that all the needs of the customers are addressed (Phuket International Hospital, 2010). This strategy demonstrates customer value. Customer value is also demonstrated by the hospitals commitment to coordinate all the personal needs of international patients before, during and after their discharge from the hospital. The hospital has international coordinators to manage the varying international services offered by the hospital. Partners Harvard Medical International (PHMI) in Dubai offers medical and educational services to patients. PHMI in Dubai is committed to research about issues afflicting our health and, therefore, the center has a Medical school for postgraduate Education and research. The website, however, does not outline the services available in the hospital (Partners Harvard Medical International, 2012). New York Presbyterian Hospital has developed a website to increase its presence online. The hospital has recognized that not all of its international patients can read and understand its messages in English and, therefore, it gives a chance to visitors to select the specific language they can understand from some of the major global languages (New York Presbyterian, 2012). The homepage has a section for the patients where they can contact and learn about the hospital. Additionally, patients can interact with staff and book appointments and access their medical records. The website also gives a chance to patients to view the services offered by the hospital. The contact information of the hospital is offered on the website to direct the patients to the center. Comparing and contrasting between McDonald’s and Health Care strategies The strategies employed in both McDonald and Health Care websites have some similarities. In all the websites, emphasis is laid on innovation. All the organizations strive to market their products by demonstrating that they are carrying out research and development of products that meet the present needs of their customers. In all the websites, the businesses seek to clearly inform the customers the products they are offering which ensures that customers make their choices from an informed point of view. McDonald’s websites describe the nutrition value of their products and pricing of those products. On the other hand, health care websites describe the services that are offered by each hospital and, therefore, patients can make a decision to visit the hospital only if the services they are seeking are offered there. All the websites recognize the need for effective communication and language barrier in international trade. Consequently, most of them offer to have language interpretation services or are developed in such a way that a visitor can access the information they need in a language they understand. A customer visiting McDonald’s Thailand website accesses the information in Thailand language while the McDonald’s UK website is usually in English. The hospital websites either offer language interpretation or visitors may select a language as in the case of New York Presbyterian Hospital. McDonald’s and health care websites have a functionality that allows customers to follow them on social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. This is a move towards integrating social media in their marketing strategies, hence, they have a high number of users. Despite the similarities, the strategies used in McDonald’s website have differences with those used in the hospital websites. On McDonald’s website, products are marketed based on price. On these websites; McDonald Company tries to appeal to customers to purchase its products based on the competitive prices. However, health care website tries to appeal to customers to seek their services by promoting superior customer services. In all the health care websites, emphasis is laid on the services that customers can access from the hospital. This is because in addition to cost, customers receiving services are more concerned with quality service more than its price. Ottmann and Street (2007) concur with this trend and explain that in promoting services, business should tailor their messages based on the quality of service received. In contrast to what is observed in McDonald’s website, heath care websites have two sections: a section for the patient and the care givers. This is because visitors of these websites search for different information. While patients are seeking information on services and location of the hospital, doctors and other care givers seek for information on drugs and their schedule. The other difference between McDonald’s website with those of health care centers is that all the health care websites give the direction and the contacts of the hospital while McDonald’s websites do not. This is because a person receiving a service must have contact with the care giver while McDonald’s products can be bought from a shop down street. The health care websites give an option to the customers to open accounts from where they can access their medical records even from a remote location. This gives customers flexibility in case they are seeking medical services from other health centers. This service is not offered in McDonald’s website. Conclusion Multinational corporations are rising very steadily. Moreover, people are relying on the Internet to search for information about businesses and, therefore, organizations must ensure that their websites are able to provide all the information that customers may be seeking. Additionally, websites must ensure that they appeal to customers. Different websites use various strategies to appeal to the customers. These include demonstration that they are offering superior services and products to the customers. Moreover, organizations must demonstrate value for the customer by supporting them when making transactions. Evaluated health care website brings out customer support by offering language interpretation services or employing staff that is able to understand different languages. The other way customer service is assured is by ensuring that hospitals organize transportation and accommodation for international patients. In contrast to McDonald’s strategies for promoting their products based on price, health care givers emphasize on the quality of their services. In developing business websites, companies are including a functionality that allows customers to follow them on social media thereby reaching more people. References Angel, O. S., & Martin Fuentes, M. T. (2002). Consumer orientation of public hospital websites in Spain. Journal of Medical Marketing, 3(1), 20-30. Ford, E., et al. (2012). Effective US health system websites: Establishing benchmarks and standards for effective consumer Engagement/PRACTITIONER APPLICATION. Journal of Healthcare Management, 57(1), 47-64; discussion 64-5. New York Presbyterian. (2012). New York Presbyterian International Services. Retrieved 10 April, 2012 from < http://nyp.org/international/ > Ottmann, G., & Street, A. F. (2007). Ten lessons for developing a health information website. Australian Health Review, 31(4), 523-526. Partners Harvard Medical International (2012). Helping Dubai become a regional centre of excellence. Retrieved 10 April, 2012 from Phuket International Hospital (2010). International patients. Retrieved 10 April, 2012 from Spoel, P. (2008). Communicating values, valuing community through health-care websites: Midwiferys online ethos and public communication in Ontario. Technical Communication Quarterly, 17(3), 264-288. Stanford Hospitals and Clinics (2012). International Medical Services. Retrieved 10 April, 2012 from Texas Children’s Hospital (2012). Families and Patients. Retrieved 10 April, 2012 from < http://www.texaschildrens.org/Default.aspx> Read More