Marketing Mix Concept and Patient Relationship in General Hospitals

Hospital as a public service institution plays a very strategic role in the improvement of the community health status and as the health care facility. Originally, a hospital functioned only as a social service institution, but now it has changed to be an institution which should take the economic factor in to consideration or to be economically oriented because the hospital is also considered as a service business based on trust, morality and ethics. Among the efforts to support the changes of hospital function are the applications of the marketing mix concept and patient relationship in hospital marketing. The hospital marketing mix is adjusted with the required services which could produce the competitive advantages for the hospital. The marketing mix concept of the hospital is 9-P's consisting of product, price, promotion, place, people, process, physical evidence, professional, performance. The patient relationship in the hospital marketing is the main key for marketing to establish the close relationship between the patient and hospital to acquire, retain and grow profitable customers to improve their trust for the profit of the company.