PHOENIX - Health plans and providers that acknowledge women as healthcare gatekeepers will reach this increasingly attractive target.
Market research continues to bear this out. Women make 70% to 90% of the healthcare decisions, according to most of the managed care plans surveyed by Rynne Marketing Group (RMG) in Evanston, Ill. (Also, see HPRMN's article, "New Agency Division Targets Women," Feb. 19, 1998.)
Key to reaching this powerful audience is targeting core segments within the women's health market-from age and ethnicity to payor and benefit groups, says Cheryl Stone, RMG's senior VP, who presented a market segmentation track on "Positioning Your Women's Service Line for Success" at the Customer Based Marketing Strategies conference here, last week.
Women influence the healthcare market by being:
- Initiators of wellness, prevention and early intervention for immediate families;
- Referral sources for co-workers, friends and family; and
- Decision-makers for extended families-the role of the "sandwich generation."
That women's healthcare services is expanding is particularly apparent in the for-profit sector, managed care arena and surge in fertility/reproductive health centers nationwide.
For instance, the Purchase, N.Y.-based for-profit IntegraMed of America recently acquired the Women's Medical & Diagnostic Center, which provides comprehensive alternative treatments for peri- and post-menopausal women.
The company is also targeting the $1 billion U.S. infertility market with high tech, comprehensive fertility marketing presence on the West coast with the Bay Area Fertility & Gynecology Medical Group clinics, according to Dwight P. Ryan, IntegraMed's VP, highlighting the growing market of 5.3 million infertile couples in the U.S.
Other examples include the increasing regional presence of the Spence Centers for Women in Massachusetts and California's WomanCare centers.
One Size Doesn't Fit All
Providers must look beyond launching OB/Gyn services to reach women, especially because more and more women are opting to start families later in life, says Stone. Healthcare programs that target women during key stages in their lives - from the generation Xers to baby boomers to seniors - are taking off. Popular healthcare offerings include:
- Women's health information/resource centers;
- Primary Care Centers;
- Multi-specialty centers like sports/fitness services and medical "second-opinion" programs; and
- Women's diagnostic centers with service concentrations that include mammography, bone density and general radiology.
In addition, women's retail healthcare opportunities are catching on nationwide. Retail boutiques are catering to women with various healthcare needs - from cancer and incontinence to breast feeding -with customized services, supplies and professional support.
Diagnostic centers are popping up in malls. Nordstrom, for example, has provided mammography and bone density screenings. (RMG, Cheryl Stone, 847/328-9050; IntegraMed, Dwight P. Ryan, 914/253-8000)