Important Niche Market Found in Family Caregivers
Marketers of consumer healthcare products would be smart to target the more than 25 million family caregivers in this country, according to a recent survey by the National Family Caregivers Association (NCFA) based in Kensington, Md.
The survey of 1,000 randomly selected NCFA members showed that 89 percent of family caregivers, those individuals who care for loved ones with a chronic illness or disability, are the primary initiators of inquiries and purchases of home healthcare products and services.
Other highlights of the survey include:
- 92 percent of caregiving families that use home healthcare products, purchase some of them with their own funds.
- 75 percent of survey respondents spent between $100 and $500 of their own money for non-reimbursed products and services in the past two years, with 25 percent spending between $500 to $1,000.
- The majority of these purchases were spent on incontinence products, daily living aids and bath safety items (51 percent, 45 percent and 38 percent, respectively)
- 37 percent of caregivers learn about new products from advertisements and 32 percent through healthcare professionals. (NCFA, 301/942-6430)
Proposed Medicare/Medicaid Budget Cuts Mean Steep Decline in Hospital Care, Survey Finds
While Congress is racing against the clock to push through deep budget cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, hospital leaders warn that community healthcare will hit the skids, according to a June/July survey by Public Opinion Strategies (Alexandria, Va.) and Frederick Schneiders Research (Washington, D.C.).
If the current budget package that calls for a $115 billion reduction in Medicare and a $15 billion reduction in Medicaid becomes law, 73 percent of the 1,000 hospitals surveyed fear a steep decline in quality healthcare delivery. The survey looked at hospitals that depend on Medicare and Medicaid for at least two-thirds of its' revenues.
Key survey observations include:
- 76 percent of hospital leaders believe that seniors will have a more difficult time getting care.
- More than two out of five respondents said that chances are 90 percent or better that the deep budget reductions will cause hospitals to delay improvements and capital investments.
Likely options include freezing or reducing hospital staff salaries, layoffs, and reducing or eliminating services like rural clinics, emergency depts. and obstetrics.
(As of this printing, Medicare means-testing has been scrapped, along with proposals to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 and charge a $5 co-payment for certain home healthcare services, in the face of strong Republican resistance from budget negotiators.)
(Public Opinion Strategies, 703/836-7655; Frederick Schneiders Research, 202/628-1118)
Healthcare PR & Marketing News recently held an awards luncheon recognizing recipients of its "Best PR and Best Marketing Campaigns of 1996." Pictured are HPRMN's Editor Ann McMikel; Tom Urtz, PR director accepting on behalf of Yale New Haven Hospital (Conn.) for Best PR; and Nigel Smith, director and Jessica Fetterman, assistant account executive accepting for Schwartz Communications, Inc. (Waltham, Mass.), for Best Marketing. For more information on the Best Marketing Campaigns of 1997 or for a copy of the issue highlighting the 1996 campaign winners and honorable mentions, contact Ann McMikel at 301/340-7788, ext. 2121.