| Welcome address by Dr Nitin Sippy, National Convener, Hospi – Fin – Mark |
Padmashree Dr DY Patil University, Department of Business Management (DYPDBM) in Navi Mumbai hosted the 4th National conference on Health and Hospital Management – Hospi – Fin – Mark (Hospital Finance & Marketing….Secrets Revealed..!) on November 24, 2012.
It was an interesting event which dealt with the current trends and changing patterns of hospital financing and marketing. Nearly 250 delegates ranging from hospital promoters, managing/ medical directors, hospital administrators/managers/executives, clinicians/consultants/doctors, other healthcare professionals, students (MHA/PGDHA),etc benefitted from this mega conference.
| Dr Sanjay Oak |
The session was inaugurated by Dr Sanjay Oak, Vice Chancellor, Pad. Dr. DY Patil University and Varun Khanna, Regional Director for Western & Eastern India, Fortis Healthcare.
Speaking on hist topic, “Healthcare Financing: Vision for tomorrow”, Dr Oak stated, “The role of health economists should be recognised. Health financing cannot be dealt with separately as it has got to do with good governance, economic growth, education. Social inclusion and financial protection needs to be provided through community based financing.”
He also threw the light on importance and rationale for the focus on health financing, the different mechanisms of financing, community based financing and health financing in India.
| Varun Khanna |
Enlightening the delegates on the principles of hospital finance and marketing, Khanna mentioned, “Gone are the days of typical marketing strategies of reference and plain advertisements. We witness a lot of newer trends namely, social marketing, e- marketing, media utilisation, etc”. He also reviewed the various marketing strategies used by Fortis Healthcare including the recent Guinness World Record of most number of children sanitising their hands in one minute.
Delivering the welcome address, Dr Nitin Sippy, National Convener, Hospi – Fin – Mark opined, “Good treatment is good business but it is not vice versa. For proper patient care and good quality treatment to be delivered by any healthcare institution, irrespective of its size, it needs a strong financial partner and a splendid marketing face. We intend to highlight these core areas of hospital administration for the small to medium healthcare providers from various parts of country.”
Setting the theme of the conference, Dr R Gopal, Director & HOD, DYPDBM stated, “The healthcare sector in India is a booming market, offering a wide array changing pattern of hospital financing and marketing. Hospi – Fin – Mark 2012 aimed at providing a platform to the participants to interact with the best and the brightest hospital and healthcare experts. Apart from this, it gave a platform to the participants to showcase their ideas and talents.”
Narendra Karkera, Director, Operations, HOSMAC India spoke on costing and budgeting for hospitals encompassing the methodology of costing, operational budgeting, expenses, etc. This in-depth analysis gave a deep insight on the financial aspects of any hospital regardless of its size.
Post lunch, Sandeep Sinha, Director, Southeast Asia & Middle east, Frost & Sullivan gave a exemplary session on “Vision 2020: How can a mid size hospital be part of growth in Indian healthcare”. He mentioned, “There is an increasing interest among private equity funds , domestic and international financial institutions, venture capitalists and banks to examine the investment opportunities across the extensive range of healthcare segment”.
| The panel discussion |
The panel discussion on “Varietal Branding and Marketing Strategies for Small to Midsize Healthcare providers” was moderated by Dr Shirish Patil, Dean, Pad. Dr.DY Patil Medical College.
Gaurav Malhotra, MD & CEO- Patni Healthcare mentioned the various changes in healthcare marketing strategies and his varied experiences right from Baush & Lomb to Medfort Hospitals and the present Patni Healthcare.
Viveka Roychowdhury, Editor, Express Healthcare and Express Pharma gave a perspective that the branding, financing and marketing efforts of small and mid-sized hospitals should strategically highlight certain aspects to differenciate themselves from their larger counterparts so that they can identify patient categories unserved by larger players.
Dr Sanjit Paul, Managing Trustee, Platinum Hospitals mentioned the marketing process and its impact when implemented by Platinum Hospitals. It was interesting to note his comments on how marketing influenced the growth of this group.
Dr Rajendra Patankar, Sr GM, DM Healthcare commented on the strategies used by their upcoming hospitals namely Aster Aadhar Hospital, Kolhapur and Aster Eye care in NCR.
Dr Yasmin Shaikh, GM, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Gleneagles Khubchandani Hospital, Juhu shared her experiences with conceptualising and implementing branding strategies in Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, Pune and then as Head Marketing of Umrao Hospitals. She was also asked to compare them with the marketing strategies of hospitals in the Middle East region, which threw up some intriguing insights.
Dr Bipin Chevale, Medical Superintendent, Fortis Vashi compared the different marketing strategies of Bombay Hospital (as he has been associated with both the Mumbai and Indore facilities) and Fortis Vashi and concluded that though each hospital used a different strategy, they both achieved their objectives.
With this mammoth success, the organising team has promised a larger scale edition of HospiFinMark next year.
EH News Bureau