Even health care needs branding

How important is Branding in Healthcare? What are the latest trends in healthcare delivery? How is branding related to Profitability?

RBC Worldwide, a brand strategy, development and management company in association with Amen, India's leading healthcare event organizers organised RBC Health 2013 - a full-day national conference and knowledge forum on Healthcare Branding and Profitability on Saturday in Hyderabad.

Experts spoke on topics such as Strategically Marketing Hospital Services, 10 innovative ideas in Hospital Marketing, Oncology Service Line Leadership, How to increase Medical Tourism for a Hospital, The art of Packaging a Hospital, Getting a Hospital ready for Funding, Hospital Strategic Communications Planning in a Digital and Social World. Panel Discussions on Physician Marketing and making Brand Champions of employees were also conducted as a part of the conference. The Conference was attended by a number of Hospital & Healthcare Promoters, Hospital Administrators & Managers, Management, Branding & Marketing Professionals and Students.

The conference, conceptualised by RBC Health, the healthcare division of RBC Worldwide, hosted senior healthcare industry professionals, entrepreneurs and strategists such as Dinesh Madhavan, Director, Healthcare Services, Healthcare Global Enterprises, Chandra Sekhar Chivukula, Executive Director, Global Hospitals Group, Ravi Kiran Pothineni, CFO, Ramesh Hospitals, Joseph A Nicholas, President & CEO, Cancer Treatment Services International, Dr. Prem Jagyasi, Executive Program Director, Medical Tourism Association, USA, Ramakanth T - Chairman & Managing Director, RBC Worldwide, Sameer Mehta - Director, Atlas Venturez , Shrinivas Ayyar - Director, RBC Health.

Healthcare, is one of India’s largest sectors growing at the rate of 20% year on year (as per rating agency Fitch), expanding rapidly both in terms of revenue and employment generation. A combined study by Ernst & Young and an industry body reveals that India will need as many as 1.75 million additional hospital beds by end 2025. Assisted by IT, the healthcare industry is gradually transitioning from paper files to electronic mediums and is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 22.7 per cent during 2013-2015. To navigate this dynamic ecosystem, healthcare providers will be looking to tweak their current growth strategies, reach out to newer customer demographics, and chalk out engaging value propositions. And here’s where an in-depth analysis of the role of the brand will become imperative. How brands can help companies compete in the emerging healthcare space will determine their survival.

The Indian Healthcare sector is witnessing fierce competition with many new entrants populating the field. Hospitals and healthcare organizations today need the right mix of Strategy, Creativity, Innovation and a Market savvy approach to attract discerning patients willing to pay a premium for differentiated service levels.

Against this backdrop, it is imperative that hospitals come up with innovative strategies to create better word of mouth, and the ‘D’ factor that sets them apart from the sea of competition. Technology and great interiors should be sensitized to patient touch points. Medical Tourism, a promising revenue stream for India, needs to be firmed up with more decisive strategy. The journey from a service provider to a brand is therefore a critical one in the Healthcare Industry.