Determinants of Successful Hospital Admission Marketing - an Empirical Study

The legislator increasingly facilitates competition in the health care delivering system in order to limit actual costs and improve quality. For this reason hospitals are in need of reorientation to remain competitive and to differentiate from competitors. Target group orientated marketing is an adequate supporting tool to achieve these objectives. Because of its function as Gatekeepers, the target group of referring physicians is of major importance. On basis of a survey among referring physicians (summer 2005) this article identifies determinants which are relevant for their satisfaction and hospitalisation-behaviour. After having aggregated the data by a factor analysis a regression analysis is carried out to analyse the data. The result shows two significant factors and their items. They are used to evaluate marketing implications and to point out the necessity of targeting referring physicians.