Marketing Assignment help on : UNC Healthcare

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The UNC Healthcare is a nonprofit healthcare system that is based in the Chapel Hill. It belongs to the state of North Carolina. Magnetic Resonance Imaging also known as MRI is done in order to test problems like brain tumors, head injuries, bleeding or any infections. By using this technology the problematic area of the body is put inside a machine which has a very strong magnet. This helps in producing images and pictures of different organs and the structures of the problematic body area. There are various other reasons for which MRI is done. However getting an MRI done is a very complex task and can be a very scary experience for any patient. It is worse for the children who are suffering from claustrophobia. In order to do this the children are sedated and this not good for their health. Sedation can be really harmful. The MRI Entertainment System helps in providing a system that will help in checking the problematic areas of the body without being sedated. It helps in reducing the risk of the sedation and is very beneficial for the children who are suffering from claustrophobia. The report contains the outline of the market plan for a new technology that will help in carrying out the MRI process easily so that the patients do not have to face much problem and also that the results that come are accurate and are not ambiguous because the children or the people could not cooperate at the time of the MRI. (UNC Healthcare, 2012)

SITUATION ANALYSIS

• Organization history: UNC healthcare is a nonprofit healthcare system that belongs to the state of North Carolina. It was founded in 1952 and was known as the medical school in the University. The Carolina Assembly reorganized the hospital in the year 1989 and names them as UNC Hospitals. With this these were brought under state control. Currently UNC is a hospital that has 804 bed and it has been trying to expand itself. It specializes in treating cancer and it has recently opened the North Carolina Cancer Hospital in the year August 2009. UNC Healthcare tries to promote the mission of teaching of the University of North Carolina and also to give good patient care. (UNC Healthcare, 2012)
• Mission, Vision and Values: the mission statement of the University of North Carolina is to lead in offering considerate and quality care that focuses on the different needs of the patients and their respective families. The UNC tries its best to take care of the needs of their patients and their families. These help them in guiding their nursing care. They also believe in oneness of the patients, their families and the UNC team. They believe in having positive communication across the organization. The vision of the hospital is to learn, teach and care. They also try and establish a culture where there is lifelong learning and helps in the professional development. (UNC Healthcare, 2012)
• MRI Entertainment System:  The MRI Entertainment System helps in providing a system that will help in checking the problematic areas of the body without being sedated. It helps in reducing the risk of the sedation and is very beneficial for the children who are suffering from claustrophobia. The MRI Entertainment System can be studied as Cinema Vision and ESys MRI Entertainment Systems. These will help in reducing the fear and the restlessness that is in the minds of the patients who are to go through an MRI. It will help in a two way communication.
• Rationale for MRI Entertainment System: The MRI is done so that the diseases like brain tumors, head injuries, infection, bleeding etc can be identified in children and the people of different ages. However this can be done by sedating the children as the whole process is quite frightening. With the introduction of MRI entertainment system, a 3D virtual system will be provided for the children that will produce images of the different areas of body and structures without sedating them.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

• Main Goal: the main goal of this product is to reduce the harmful effects that are caused by sedation which is used to do the MRI process with children and other people. It will be used so that the patients do not have respiratory disorders due to heavy sedation. It is also said that a MRI is successful if there is no movement by the patient but is near to impossible if children less than the age of three are considered.
• Most valuable MRI Entertainment options for patients: the MRI entertainment systems can be studied under Cinema Vision and ESys. Under both the cases, the entertainment options are Video, Audio, CD, DVD, MP3 and radio FM.
• Barriers to using the MRI Entertainment System: there are no such barriers to the usage of the MRI Entertainment Systems as these will be beneficial for the people who have to go through the MRI check up. These systems will help in getting clear images as the children or the people will be concentrating on their favorite movie. However installing the whole system can be quite costly and thus will not be afforded by lower budget hospitals.
• Different training needs for different groups: the training as to how to operate the system will require different training needs for different groups of patients. The team that will be handling children below 3 yrs or older will be trained such that they are able to convince the children and to distract them. The people who will looking after those who are suffering from claustrophobia then they will be taught those training requirements.

MARKET RESEARCH

• Demographic of the MRI Department

Customer analysis: the main people who will be targeted will be children especially those who are below the age of three and the people who are suffering from claustrophobia. The process of MRI requires the non movement and cooperation from the patients which is not possible if the patient is below the age of three or he is claustrophobic. Thus this new introduction will help them in keeping them engrossed in something of their interest and the process of MRI will be completed successfully.

• Competitors Information

Market position: the top most competitor of UNC healthcare is the Duke University Health Systems. The university is said to give tough competition to UNC in almost all areas. They both have competing to practice in Wake County along with WakeMed. Both UNC and Duke hold the larger market position of the health care industry. (News Observer, 2012)

Strengths and Weaknesses: Duke is the major competitor of UNC and it concentrates in offering considerate medical services to its patients. There are various departments to each wing and every wing makes sure that they cater to the needs and requirements of their patients. It is a not-for-profit healthcare system. The reputation of Duke is elite and it was emphasized that the local and national reputation of the healthcare went hand in hand. The only disparity was that every school and the medical center had their individual focuses. This is however not considered as a shortcoming by the president and CEO of DUHS. (Repertoire, 2003)

Market Share: DUHS and UNC are the top most players in the healthcare industry and they are the ones that have the most of the market share. Duke is placed among the top 10 of the best 140 medical centers.(Duke Medicine, 2012) The university receives 5000 application for around 140 slots which clearly shows its reputation and market share. (HL-ISY, 2012)

• Success Information from other sites: MRI was expected to become one of the most important tools to diagnose diseases and hence carrying the MRI process smoothly was very important. There were issues with the process that the patients had to be sedated but then the new MRI Entertainment Systems helped in solving the problem. The children who have gone through the MRI process with the help of Entertainment Systems have been quite cooperative and they now have an option if they are claustrophobic. The Grand River Hospital has produced successful results as it used this new technology for MRI. It was the greatest thing for those who used it. The system helps by providing visual as well as audio distraction which keeps the patient busy and he does not realize when the MRI is done. The MRI scanners are very sensitive. They are not only affected by the movements in the body but also if any muscle is strained. Thus with the help of the new system this problem was overcome which resulted in accurate images and pictures. (The Record, 2012)
• Market Segmentation: the market will be segmented into Pediatrics and claustrophobic patients. The system will concentrate on only these two groups as these will benefit the most from the New MRI Entertainment Systems. The process of MRI requires the non movement and cooperation from the patients which is not possible if the patient is below the age of three or he is claustrophobic. Thus this new introduction will help them in keeping them engrossed in something of their interest and the process of MRI will be completed successfully. These two kinds of customers will be the main target and they will be convinced and attracted so that they can take advantage of the new technology which will benefit them. The country will be having various children who are three years or older or people who are suffering from claustrophobic. The market will be segmented demographically, behavior, geographically keeping in mind the two main target groups.
• Internal Research: the sedation team will be asked to keep records of the weekly reports of the number of patients who come for MRI and who are being sedated. This will help to analyze the number of people that comes for sedation. The sedation team will also be asked to generate a report that will show the after results of the sedation on the patients. The general anesthesia team will also be asked to produce reports so as to keep a track of the number of patients that are given anesthesia and also whether the anesthesia is general or localized. This will help in doing the research that too primary so that it can be used for marketing. Interviews or surveys can be taken by the various MRI technologists, sedation team members, recreational therapists, radiology registered nurses and the general anesthesia team. The interviews will contain question which will be able to get feedback from the above people about the new technology. This will help in concluding whether this new technology will be beneficial for the company or not.
• External Research: this will involve calculating the problems that are being faced by the children who are being sedated and also their parents so that a feedback is recorded. The people suffering from claustrophobia will also be asked to mention the problems they face after they are being sedated. This can be done by giving them a vague idea about the new MRI Entertainment Systems. This will help in deciding the urgency of the need of the new technology.

STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

• Process Steps: the introduction of the new technology will require efficient planning. The planning should be done in such a way that it should involve the feedback and consultation of all the members of the team. The first thing is to identify the business goal. The goal here is to introduce MRI Entertainment System so that the problems that are faced due to sedation are no longer faced by the patients and the MRI scanning is a safer technique of getting pictures of structures of the body parts. The marketing goal should be stated so that a benchmark is laid and the team works accordingly. A thorough research should be done about the market so that there is an idea about how to pace the new introduction in the market. Information should be available about the competitors who have started using this technique. It can be assumed that many people are not aware of this technique as they are still adopting the old method of getting the MRI done. This will help in keeping the old customers and also by attracting various new customers. The technology is new and less people know about it. The target market will be the children above the age of three and the people suffering from claustrophobia. The other people are able to control and cooperate and thus only this segment will be targeted. The initial information about the market will also be gathered so that it known the current status of the MRI technology in the market.
• The Four P’s: the four P’s of marketing is a very important tool while making a marketing plan. The first P is the Product. The product is the MRI Entertainment Systems. The customer are expecting a product that will help them in completing their MRI scanning without getting their children harmed by the harmful sedation. It will be presented as a brand of the hospital and the product will be slightly different from what its competitors have. The product will have a wide choice of visuals and audio for the patients. The place will be the hospitals of the UNC healthcare systems. The customers will be able to take advantage of the services at the hospitals and medical centers of the UNC Healthcare systems. The main competitors are also introducing the same technology and thus it will be ensured that the old customers are able to avail it at the place and time which is feasible to them. The price of the product will be according to the market price and that of the price of the competitor. The price of the product will be either to equal to or more than that of the competitor depending upon the reputation of the home company. The discounts will also be decided which will be given to the old as well as the new customers. The promotion will be done by distributing brochures to the current customers, discount coupons, boards that explain the advantage of this technology, and advertising the new technology. The choice of the promotional activity will be different. The old customers will be given a free trail of the new technology and their feedback will be recorded. This will also work as a part of the external research.
• The UNC Healthcare should adopt the market leader strategies and try to expand the total market as they already have a very good reputation in the market. They should also try hard to expand their market share.

ACTION PROGRMAS

• Traditional marketing is getting rapidly replaced by the new innovative methods of marketing. These methods are not good methods now their effect is diminishing rapidly. New methods should be used to market the product.
• Social Marketing: the product is apt for social marketing as it creates awareness amongst the people about the harmful effects of sedation and how they can save themselves and their children by using the new technology. Social marketing has always been an effective tool in making the target audience aware about the advantages of the product and MRI Entertainment Systems is a product that is designed to lessen the harmful effects of the sedation.

FINANCIAL PLAN AND BUDGET

The main fight was whether Cinema Vision should be selected or Esys should be selected. Cinema Vision however has an upper hand. The total cost of installation of the Cinema Vision was $41,850. The total cost of the training will be $5000 because the training has to be accurate as to the usage of the product.

EVALUATION OF THE PLAN

The plan has to be evaluated in order to check whether whatever planning has been done is beneficial or not. This can be done by checking the records of the health conditions of the patients before they started using the new technology and after using the technology. The results will prove that plan has been successful or not. The cost efficiency will also be ensured. This will help in calculating whether the new technology is running in profits or losses.

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