Abstract
A mail survey, sponsored by the Southern California Society for Health Care Planning and Marketing, was conducted to profile the qualifications and responsibilities of professionals holding management level marketing positions in Southern California hospitals. The survey was also designed to project changes in the responsibilities of hospital marketers over the next five years, and to profile the professional qualifications needed to respond to these changes. A total of seventy-six (76) individuals responded to the survey, a return rate of 69%. Of the seventy-six (76) respondents, 39.5% held vice president level positions, 38.1% held director level positions. The majority (76.3%) were affiliated with not-for-profit hospitals. The study found that 73.4% of hospital marketers have graduate level degrees, primarily in the areas of healthcare and business administration. The major areas of professional experience included marketing (72.4%), planning and research (68.7%) and advertising (50%). Media advertising was utilized by 93.3% of the respondent's hospitals, while only 72% routinely conducted survey research and 77.6% had measurable marketing objectives. The medical staff programs most often included as part of marketing's responsibilities were marketing assistance (76.3%), and physician referral system (65.8%). Other areas of responsibility included service and program development (75%), market training (56.8%), and sales/sales training (50.0%). Vice president level positions were significantly more likely to have service development responsibility, as well as managed care/contracting responsibility. Bottom-line accountability for marketing/advertising dollar expenditures will be the most important future responsibility of hospital marketing. The projected qualifications most needed included financial management, planning and research. The findings of the study indicated that hospital marketing was evolving to include many of the functions associated with business marketing, and away from the almost exclusive promotional bias. It was concluded that the marketing professional will increasingly need analytical and financial expertise to effectively carry out their job responsibilities.