E-marketing in UK Private Hospitals - Dissertation Example

?E-marketing in UK Private Hospitals Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 0.Introduction 3 1.Background of the Study 3 2.Problem ment 5 3.Research Aim 5 1.4.Research Question and Hypotheses 6 1.5.Research Objectives 7 2.0. Literature Review 7 2.1. E-health 7 2.2. Current Trends among UK Hospitals 9 2.5. Potential of Using the Web 12 2.6. Critical Issues 13 3.0. Research Methodology 16 3.1. Data Collection 17 3.2. Data Analysis 18 3.3. Research Structure 19 4.0. Ethical Consideration 19 5.0. Limitations 20 References 21 1.0. Introduction In present days, internet has become one of the major trends in business and is being used widely in several sectors. Internet not only offers free exchange of information, but is also emerging as one of the dominant networks for business marketing. In the current era, internet facilities are observed to deliver various new opportunities for businesses, especially in terms of marketing communication. The online consumers can enjoy ranges of products or services in more reasonable prices and in more convenient manner. Today, E-marketing gives consumers an opportunity to gather information and choose the right product or services at the right time. Therefore, several new entrepreneurs as well as existing small and medium size enterprises are nowadays exploring the e-marketing services in order to improve their business operations and discover the new business opportunities. In service sector such as health care industry, financial establishments, hospitality and tourism industry are now using the e-marking extensively (Yang & et. al., 2002). This research will aim on providing an insight about application of e-marketing in the healthcare sector of UK. 1.1. Background of the Study The use of internet for collecting information has already become much significant in healthcare sector and will probably become more vital in upcoming days. The extensive Information and Communication Technology (ICT) movement reveals changing demands on the healthcare industry with societal transformation, with rising life anticipation, with shifting form of illness, and with altering scientific competencies (Marrow, n.d.). In present days, the e-marketing, in hospitals of UK had observed impressive growth. Several hospitals in the UK have initiated ICT in order to cope up with other businesses. The consumers are becoming ever more comfortable with uses of internet technology and are also purchasing ranges of products and services through it. Likewise, huge numbers of consumers are using internet in order to gain information about medical and health (Sanchez, 2000). In contrast with other organisations, hospitals in UK are experiencing a rapid knowledge about using ICT. Traditionally, the use of internet as marketing in the healthcare industry was limited due to lack of knowledge about its advantages. Though these limitations have not ended yet, but hospitals in UK are now becoming more open-minded and conscious about the possible paybacks they can gain by using internet as marketing tool. Besides, implementation of internet as marketing in other industry had also contributed to this trend in hospital organisations. Even though for small organisations are unable to bear the expense of using E-marketing, but several large hospitals in the UK have recognised that the benefit for this expense are great once made-up. Similarly, several private hospitals are developing good websites which can increase brand awareness, raise productivities and also to some extent save cost in other extents of business (Sanchez, 2000). 1.2. Problem Statement Presently, the healthcare industry is witnessing enormous challenges because of continuous increase in public demands. Private hospitals are under great stress of continuous improvement of services to the rising patients, habitually with insufficient funds. The hospitals are much cognisant about using e-marketing compared to other industries. However, the enormous challenges of hospitals relate to better productivity to exploit inadequate funds and sustain with new medical developments. Thus, this research will present an exploratory study on the capabilities of ICT by focusing on private hospitals of the UK. The major problem of this research is to identify if the uses of ICT can actually help private hospitals in the UK to tackle the challenges and increase the service efficiency (Fujitsu Limited, 2008). 1.3. Research Aim This research will aim on generating an in-depth view about the role of ICT in the private hospitals of UK. While using ICT there are several aspects which are considered by the hospitals such as accountability, branding, customer service, privacy, communication, and revenue among others. This research will also emphasise on the current trends and activities of hospitals in ICT along with the capability to increase the service efficiency of hospitals. 1.4. Research Question and Hypotheses The research question has been designed by considering the general problem identified in this research area. The research question to be focused in this study will be “What is the role of ICT in enhancing service efficiency in the private hospitals of UK?” In order to conduct the research and provide answer to the research question, two hypotheses have been developed which can help to understand the importance of ICT in the private hospitals of UK from an exploratory point of view. Hypothesis I: Null hypothesis (H0) = “E-marketing is not time-efficient in serving the customers of private hospitals in the UK” Alternate hypothesis (H1) = “E-marketing is time-efficient in serving the customers of private hospitals in the UK” Hypothesis II: Null hypothesis (H0) = “ICT is not cost-effective for private hospitals in the UK” Alternate hypothesis (H2) = “ICT is cost effective for private hospitals in the UK” 1.5. Research Objectives The research will be carried out for fulfilling the following objectives which are: To understand the current trends that accelerates the growth of using ICT in private hospitals To recognise the potential of E-marketing strategies in private hospitals To investigate the limitations of realising ICT in private hospitals To analyse critical issues surrounding the use of E-marketing in private hospitals 2.0. Literature Review 2.1. E-health According to Asoh & Rivers (2010), E-health refers to the concept of applying information technology in healthcare delivery. The concept is an emerging one and is an extension of e-marketing. E-health provides the intersection between two major themes; health and technology. It refers to the delivery of health services and health information through the internet and other various technologies (Asoh & Rivers, 2010). E-health has been applied in various environments within the hospital setting. These include; hospital logistics such as patient transfer and medical products supply, information management including patient records and staff data, scheduling of healthcare services for example human resources management and booking, hospital administration, pharmacy and patient information among many others (Asoh & Rivers, 2010). Now-a-days, E-health has become very popular in the health sector due to its value. The application of e-health has several general benefits that tend to enhance the healthcare system in many ways. For instance, its adoption enhances safety, quality and effects of healthcare services delivery. E-health also enables hospitals to perform better in their delivery of healthcare services such that they are able to ensure that customer information and other vital information are secured and systematically stored for a long period of time. E-health also increases the rate at which services are provided along with its effectiveness to a large extent (Asoh & Rivers, 2010). In addition, e-health also reduces costs, increases efficiency and productivity of healthcare services, as the use of internet has enabled cheap transfer of information among people across the world. Thus, hospitals have been able to cut their expenditures on marketing and delivery of healthcare services by adopting information technology in their marketing strategies. The adoption of information technology has also benefited the healthcare organizations with enhanced customer satisfaction by enabling the hospitals to render their services not only in a time and cost efficient manner, but also in a more productive way being quite focused on serving with specific information as per requirement (Asoh & Rivers, 2010). 2.2. Current Trends among UK Hospitals In the UK, a substantial number of hospitals have adopted internet marketing strategies. It is in this context that e-marketing has enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of UK private hospitals in providing healthcare services to a large extent. These benefits include better information transfer, better delivery of services, and better information management among others. As stated by Lin & et. al. (2001), the internet has been used in the health sector mainly for three purposes such as in clinical research, in communication and the provision of healthcare information to customers about the providers. Common e-marketing technologies used by private hospitals in UK fundamentally include World Wide Web (WWW) and e-mail (Lin & et. al., 2001). The World Wide Web, simply referred to as the Web, came out as one of the e-marketing mediums in the 1990s. Since then it has developed into a very strong marketing tool in various industrial sectors all around the world. Many private hospitals in the UK have developed their own websites as a tool for e-marketing. For example, Spire Healthcare, which has a variety of hospitals across the UK, uses its personalised website to provide information on various aspects to its patients and other customer groups around the international market (Spire Healthcare Limited, 2010). Another example of private hospital website is the BMI Healthcare website (BMI Healthcare.com). There are many other private hospitals in the UK healthcare industry that are rendering extensive focus on the benefits of using Information Technology (Citizens Advice Bureau, 2011). Private Healthcare in UK also focuses on engaging e-services through its website in providing a wide range of information about different private hospitals and the services that they provide. This enables a customer to choose the private hospital that they prefer by observing the details regarding that specific hospital. The website also provides information on operations and treatments along with other medical assistants whereby visitors to the website can access information on various medical terminologies such as breast surgery, colorectal surgery, gynaecology, paediatric treatment and contraception among many others. In addition, the website provides information on the costs of treatment and services provided by the different private hospitals which can be highly beneficial for customers of the healthcare industry (Private Healthcare UK, 2012). It is in this context that Southon & et. al. (1997) stated that development of these technologically improved systems have enabled hospitals to enhance their services delivery through various means. As discussed above, the websites provide a lot of information regarding the specific hospitals. The websites enable private hospitals to interact with their customers assisting the hospitals to respond accordingly. This is beneficial to both the hospital and the customers thus cementing the relationship between the two. The hospitals benefit by improving their services by incorporating what the customers want while the customers get better services and more information on anything that they like (Smith & Flanegin, 2004). To be precise, service delivery is enhanced with the use of hospital websites. As stated by Omachonu & Einspruch (2010), the use of websites has made it possible for customers to book appointments with the hospitals or health professionals online. This implies that the customers need not to travel physically to the hospitals to schedule their appointments and then travel again on the date of appointment. In addition, online scheduling of appointment reduces congestion in hospitals. Rolland & et. al. (2009) stated in this regards that apart from online booking, customers can also get services without necessarily travelling to the hospital. Services such as medical prescriptions can be provided by the hospitals online. Hospitals and health practitioners can also check the progress of their patients online without the later travelling to the hospital with the virtues of e-services (Rolland & et. al., 2009). The other e-marketing strategy that is currently used by private hospitals in the UK is the use of electronic mail (e-mail). E-mail marketing refers to the use of electronic mail for communication with customers for direct marketing (Hennes, 2005: 54). Syrjanen further stated that in the UK, most health professionals in private hospitals use the internet for accessing the most recent developments in their respective fields and to communicate with their patients (Syrjanen, n.d.). According to Hennes (2005), the use of e-mail for marketing has several advantages to hospitals, just like in other organizations. The main advantage is that it is a very effective tool for ensuring customer loyalty. With the use of e-mail, a more personal interaction is created between the hospital and the client. This results in a stronger relationship that is founded on trust as E-mail facilities in marketing creates a sense of special care and attention to the hospital clients and therefore such clients are more likely to remain loyal to the hospital (Hennes, 2005: 56). In addition, Hennes (2005) also stated that e-mail marketing enables targeted marketing. This is whereby a hospital can target specific clients or groups of clients for marketing. For example, a hospital can target cancer patients with information that is specifically about cancer. Just like other forms of e-marketing, the use of e-mails reduces marketing costs. Therefore, it provides a very cost effective tool for rendering tailored services to clients. Clients can respond to e-mails as soon as they receive them. Even if they do not respond, the information are passed over to them and thus achieving the intended purpose. Moreover, the use of e-mail enables tracking and evaluation of the service rendering process executed in the hospital more efficiently. The number of e-mails sent and the number of responses can be tracked facilitating evaluation of the strategy (Hennes, 2005). 2.5. Potential of Using the Web The use of e-marketing by private hospitals in the UK has not been comprehensive. According to the study of Eichelberg & et. al. (2005), one of the ways through which hospitals can enhance their use of websites for e-marketing is by developing links within their websites that would enable direct communication between them and the users. This will facilitate users to instantly ask any questions or raise issues that they may be having and the hospital can respond immediately. This would present an environment that is similar to the face-to-face direct communication making the communication process as direct and active. In addition, social media is one of the fastest growing and widely used platforms for e-marketing in the current world. Social media marketing refers to the use of social media for marketing purposes (Dubose, 2011). Due to this large number of users of social media, it presents a potential avenue for reaching out to a large number of people. Social media also allows for more inclusive interaction among many people. Unlike the website or the internet, social media allows for discussions involving a large number of people. As mentioned by Angelle & Rose. (2011), this can be very helpful to the hospitals especially when trying to get the feelings or opinions of most of the clients regarding a particular topic. One hospital that has used social media marketing since 2009 is The Methodist Hospital in the U.S. The hospital has a Facebook and a Twitter Account that it uses to reach out and interact with its existing and potential clients. In addition, the hospital uses YouTube for the same purpose. The impact of using social media to the hospital has been quite noteworthy as it encourages and enhances good behaviour, widens access to healthcare, attracts more people to the hospital and educates the patients on various health issues (Angelle, & Rose, 2011). 2.6. Critical Issues According to Menon & Lee (2000), the growth in the number of private hospitals using e-marketing strategies raises various critical issues other than the benefits that they have. These issues need to be addressed if the e-marketing strategy is to be successful. This is due to the risk that they pose, which if not addressed may lead to the failure of e-marketing within the hospitals and health sector in general (Menon & Lee, 2000). As noted by Mundy (2006), one of the most critical issues is privacy. Within the hospital setting, privacy refers to the right to secrecy information regarding persons. These could be patients, practitioners or staff. The advent and growth of the internet and electronic age is becoming one of the main areas of concern regarding the protection of privacy in keeping a records and serving the customers as per requirement. As per the study findings of Eichelberg et. al. (2005), information such as patient health records, prescriptions and appointments has become quite challenging to protect from getting to the public. The nature of e-marketing (enabling fast transfer of information to almost anyone across the world) is the main contributing factors to lack of privacy. Moreover, the ability of various e-marketing technologies to contain large amounts of data is also a challenging aspect. These vast volumes of data usually contain some information that may have not been intended to be public. E-marketing tools such the use of website may also provide links that would enable locate a particular person or even get more personal information about them. For instance, the medical records of a patient can present personal information such as the name, sex, age, disease, and location of the patient (Eichelberg et. al., 2005). Although there have been attempts to ensure the privacy in the internet, those attempts have not been very successful due to their shortcomings. One of the common attempts has been the demonstration of privacy policies on most hospital websites. These are generally short notes written by the hospital or by another party on behalf of the hospital, elaborating their privacy policies with respect to the gathering and application of information that is presented on the website. In the UK, studies estimate the proportion of hospital websites that have a privacy policy to be 77% (Mundy, 2006). However, the use of privacy policies on the websites has not been very effective mainly because they lack uniformity. Most of the privacy policies are written randomly without following any standards, thus resulting in various gaps including mismatch between the intended purpose of the policy and the real understanding by the users (Mundy, 2006). With respect to e-health there are also several limitations including the major limitations of complexity. As stated by Southon & et. al. (2012), customers have hard time sorting information from the huge volumes of information provided. The complexity of e-health also contains the potential risk of a health scare. In case of a health scare, such information can spread so fast across the world instilling fear among people who might be discouraged from using e-health services. E-health services also faces the challenge of digital divide whereby uneducated or less-educated people usually have less access to internet as compared to the well educated. This implies that e-health services mostly serve the well educated people while leaving out the less educated group (Anderson & et. al., 2006; Asoh & Rivers, 2010). Furthermore, as Dubose (2011) stated, social media marketing presents the challenge of information control. Thus, a hospital being one of the sectors that need to uphold high integrity faces the challenge of users writing offensive or false information on the hospitals’ social media accounts. This can ruin the reputation of the hospital, especially, when clients associate such offensive or false information with the hospital. In addition to this, social media presents private hospitals with the risk of legal liabilities (Dubose, 2011: 116). E-marketing also presents the challenge of competition among hospitals. Many hospitals are using e-marketing to have a competitive advantage over others. This means that hospitals that use e-marketing appropriately are more likely to have many clients. Those that are yet to adopt e-marketing are thus left behind and face the risk of getting abolished from the market (Dubose, 2011). 3.0. Research Methodology For any research, the research methodology plays a vital part by providing instructions to the researcher for conducting the study in a systematic and efficient manner. Owing to this reason, the research methodology can be stated as an essential integral of research processes (Kothari, 2008). In this research, the mixed approach will be used comprising both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The reason for using qualitative approach is that it can help to understand the comprehensive elements of the research and numerous aspects related with uses of E-marketing in hospitals. The objective of using qualitative approach is to learn the essential initiative of the topic. This research is involved with organising and establishing rationalisations regarding the uses of internet as a marketing tool. On the other hand, quantitative approach will be used for describing and analysing the data and information through using, charts, graphs, and statistical methods. In this research quantitative approach will be used to conduct the hypothesis relating to phenomena. The objective of using the quantitative approach is to analyse the quantitative data with the help to statistics. The mixed approach is suitable for this study as it can help to provide impartial results which can be gathered from sample of population. While qualitative approach will help to understand the theoretical aspects of the subject, quantitative approach will help to verify those aspects though proper statistical assessment. 3.1. Data Collection Data collection is the other vital component for conducting a research which comprises the procedure of collecting various data or information about the subject matter. Data collection methods can be of two types one is primary data collection and other one is secondary data collection. Primary data collection includes gathering information from primary sources such as interview, survey, field study and questionnaire among others. The secondary data collection methods encompasses collecting information from secondary sources such as, company reports, books, case studies, online journal and articles among others (University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, n.d.). In order to accomplish the objectives of the research, the study will require both primary as well as secondary data. The method of collecting the data depends on the numerous concerns such as research subject, location of study, aims and objectives of research, and respondents of research. The primary data will be collected through explicitly designed questionnaire and interview method and will be distributed to hospital employees such as clerks, accountants, managers and the patients in order to assess their opinions and feelings about the benefits of ICT in the private hospitals. Two questionnaires will be developed for the research, where one will be used for interviewing the employees and other will be given to the patients. Almost ten private hospitals will be selected for the purpose of collecting data. There will be ten patients from each hospitals to whom questionnaire will be provided and five employees from each hospitals will be approached through interview method. The reason primary data will be used is that it can provide the authentic data given by the people who are actually convoluted in the research subject. Besides, primary sources will deliver the resources which can let the researcher to develop own understanding. This research will use secondary data because, all information for conducting the research cannot be gathered through primary data, and there is some information which cannot be revealed due to ethical concerns. For this reason the secondary data will be used in this research (Boslaugh, n.d.). 3.2. Data Analysis Data analysis includes the assessment of collected information in order to obtain a detailed and valid conclusion for the research question. In this research the data analysis will be conducted on the basis of facts about the subject and logical analysis by hypothesis testing and uses of charts. The data will be first assembled which will provide an understanding or explanation about the research problem, and then will be assessed with statistical methods. The hypothesis will be tested in research by Pearson correlation analysis. 3.3. Research Structure The research will be first conducted on the basis of secondary information, and then will be followed up by primary data in order to bridge any gap. Thus, variety of primary and secondary data can provide a broader picture about the research subject. In order to understand the impact of E-marketing in the private hospitals of UK, two aspects will be analysed which are the service efficiency and cost effectiveness of private hospitals after implementing ICT in their business operations. Increasing service efficiency and cost effectiveness will verify that E-marketing has considerable impact and it plays vital part for the private hospitals in the UK. 4.0. Ethical Consideration Every research includes certain ethical aspects which need to be considered before conducting the study. In this research, appropriate authorisation from the university will be taken in order to gather information from people at private hospitals. It will be ensured that the research will not result in any harm to the parties involved, and proper confidentiality will be maintained about them. The secondary data will be gathered from reliable sources such as academic sites, online journals, governmental or corporate websites in order to ensure reliability and validity. Further attention will be provided in this research so that personal biases and opinions may not hamper the research findings (Orb & et. al., 2001). 5.0. Limitations The major limitation for conducting the research is availability of information. As the research will use questionnaire method, the researcher might face the problem of rejection. Thus, numerous questionnaires will be developed and interview will be conducted so that appropriate information can be gathered. With respect to secondary research, the major difficulties are reliability and dependability of information. Thus, only authentic and academic sources will be used for this study. Besides, the time is also a challenging factor for the research, as questionnaire method, and approaching huge number of respondents requires longer time and it might impact on the research. References Anderson, G. F. & et. al., 2006. Health Care Spending and Use of Information Technology in OECD Countries. Health Affairs, 25(3), pp. 819-831. Angelle, D. & Rose, C. L., 2011. Conversations with the Community: The Methodist Hospital System's Experience with Social Media. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 28(2), pp. 15-21. Asoh, D. A. & Rivers, P. A., 2010. The Empowerment and Quality Health Value Propositions of E-Health. Health Services Management Research: An Official Journal of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration / HSMC, AUPHA, 23(4), pp. 181-184. BMI Healthcare, 2012. BMI Healthcare Limited. Web. [Online] Available at: http://www.bmihealthcare.co.uk/ [Accessed January 30, 2012]. Citizens Advice Bureau, 2011. Private Health Treatment. Advice Guide. 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[Online] Available at: http://is2.lse.ac.uk/asp/aspecis/20000152.pdf [Accessed January 30, 2012]. Read More