As a marketing manager in health care, it is important to understand the changes
As a marketing manager in health care, it is important to understand the changes that have occurred in health care and how consumers and health care leaders have responded.
Watch the following five videos as you prepare to respond:
PPO vs HMO Transcript:
So as consumers, we always have to choose between a PPO or HMO when we’re looking at health insurance. So PPO versus HMO is like a boxing match. They go toe-toe all the time as consumers.
How do they choose and why? Okay. So let’s look at the tailor to take we’re gonna look at what’s important to Consumers and how the HMO product matches up against the PPO product. So let’s look at the network. The network is your network of doctors who you go to when you need care.
So under the PPO product, you have a nationwide Network. You can go to any doctor you like. You don’t have to deal with a network on HMO option. You’re going to deal with a narrow Network something that’s more Regional a location a zip code so you don’t have the freedom to go anywhere.
Referrals referrals are when you need to see a specialist. Do you need a referral do you need in other words permission to see a specialist provider? Under the PPO. You don’t need referrals. You can self-refer yourself to any doctor you like.
Under the HMO product. You’re going to need a referral. If you need to go see a cardiologist. If you need to see a dermatologist, you’re going to have to first stop into your primary care provider also called the GateKeeper.
They’re going to have to give you that referral over to the dermatologist and in some instances. They may say well, let’s try this before you go to a dermatologist. So they may try other methods before sending you over to a dermatologist. So this is also called Gatekeepers under the PPO product. There is no gatekeeper. Again, you’re self-referring yourself to any specialist you like.
So it boils down to Freedom you have way more freedom on the PPO product than you would on a HMO product.
And what does this mean for costs? So you’re going to pay for these freedoms. So the cost of the PPO product is a lot more than what you would spend on an HMO product.
Because you have less freedom.
So now let’s look at the target market. Who would you target these plans to because you can Target them to both but you have the better target market when you understand what their likes and they’re just likes are and who they are.
So for the PPO product you want to look at people that are Travelers some people go to Florida for the summertime and then go back home to Maryland for the winter time.
You have college students that are back and forth home at certain times of the year. They’re going to need a nationwide Network because they’re not going to stay in one place very long.
And someone that sees a specialist a lot if you have someone with heart condition someone where hypertension someone with diabetes if you see a dermatologist a lot, it’s gonna be important for you to have access to these doctors. You don’t want to be under the constraints of an HMO in needing a referral every time you go see that doctor. So your target market for the PPO plan is gonna look a lot like these guys.
Some people are fine with a higher cost if it’s going to get them the things that they desire.
They’ll pay a little bit more for that product.
Now your HMO target market are going to be more of your healthier individuals where they don’t go to the doctor a lot. So why would they pay more for a PPO product when they probably go to the doctor twice a year, they can work under the constraints of a narrow network of getting a referral of dealing with Gatekeepers and you might have people that want a lower cost and because they are going to pay a lower cost by HMO product. They’re willing to play by the rules.
So when you think of these two plans think of your target market and think about how you’re going to communicate the advantages of having a PPO as well as your target market thinking about the advantages of having an HMO product.
The health care landscape has changed significantly since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in March 2010. What are some of the changes you have experienced as a consumer of health care?
Telemedicine Transcript:
Okay, raise your hand if you’ve had a virtual visit in the past.
I’m sure most of you looking at a room of 30 people. I would say more than half of the people in that room would have raised their hand.
But pre-covid I’m not so sure.
Now when I say virtual visit that’s an online visit from your home or your office you talk to a doctor.
Over your smartphone or your computer. I’m sure that most of you know, what a virtual visit is at this point covid-19 really helped explode the virtual visit Market companies like Amwell in teledot you should visit their websites if you haven’t had a virtual visit and look at the demo.
You have this online visit. It’s 24/7 access to a provider for things like pink eye migraines sinus infections Mental Health.
You’re able to conveniently log in at your convenience, whether you do it before work after work in the morning in the evening you have access to a provider that can help prescribe medicine if it’s needed give you medical advice if needed.
And before covid-19 a lot of consumers were still kind of skeptical about a virtual visit.
the covid-19 helped push Push virtual visits across the line. I believe that telemedicine is going to explode even further now. You can see a dermatologist online you could do a lot more online than just emergency type visits.
So it’s something if you’re looking for something Cutting Edge, you want to look at virtual visits because it’s going to continue to change the marketplace. It’s going to continue to change the landscape.
As a leader in the health care field, how will you address future changes in health care regulation and services?
I attached the video transcripts for PPO vs HMO & Telemedicine instead of the actual video links.