Positioning hospitals: A model for regional hospitals

In an age of aggressive marketing in the health care industry, hospitals need creative strategies to compete successfully. Lately, positioning concepts have been added to the health care marketer's arsenal of strategies. Basic positioning theory is reviewed and a framework for developing positioning strategies is presented. Three phases in a positioning model for hospitals are described: identifying current market and hospital conditions, developing approaches, and defining strategies. The marketing strategies of a regional hospital, the South Georgia Medical Center (SGMC), are evaluated to provide a case study. SGMC's positioning strategies, while not entirely successful, contributed to rises in revenues, outpatient visits, emergency visits, outpatient surgeries, and the occupancy rate at the hospital's retirement facility.