Journal article
Limitations of Secondary Data for Strategic Marketing in Rural Areas
Health services management research : an official journal of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Vol.13(4), pp.216-222
11/2000
DOI: 10.1177/095148480001300402
PMID: 11142068
Abstract
Market research is an important element of the strategic marketing process. By understanding the healthcare needs of a market area, hospital and health system managers can set priorities for new services and allocate resources appropriately. The process of market research often begins with an evaluation of health status and socioeconomic indicators collected from secondary sources. Unfortunately, indicators that have been recommended in the literature may not be feasible for use in rural markets because of their lack of statistical precision or inability to differentiate healthcare service needs. This study evaluated the statistical precision and variability of 79 secondary health status and socioeconomic measures reported at the county level in Iowa, USA, a largely rural state. Our findings suggest that many readily available health status and socioeconomic indicators do not discriminate need among rural health care markets. Only six health status and two socioeconomic indicators met our statistical precision and variability criteria. These findings have important implications for managers planning health services in rural localities. Managers of rural health systems may need to employ alternative market research methods, such as analysis of claims-based utilization rates or community health surveys.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Limitations of Secondary Data for Strategic Marketing in Rural Areas
- Creators
- T. F Borders - Department of Health Services and Management, School of Medicine, Texas Tech UniversityJ. E Rohrer - Department of Health Services and Management, School of Medicine, Texas Tech UniversityT. E Vaughn - Department of Health Services and Management, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Health services management research : an official journal of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Vol.13(4), pp.216-222
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- DOI
- 10.1177/095148480001300402
- PMID
- 11142068
- ISSN
- 0951-4848
- eISSN
- 1758-1044
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/2000
- Academic Unit
- Health Management and Policy; Nursing
- Record Identifier
- 9984214812902771
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