For healthcare marketers looking to blaze new trails, preventive healthcare programs have exciting potential.
"Prevention is the medical buzz word for the '90s and consumers are hearing more about it from the media and demanding more from their doctors, no matter what the cost," said Dr. Larry Chiagouris, executive vice president and managing director of CDB Research & Consulting Inc., a New York-based research company that tracks consumer attitudes toward healthcare.
In fact, according to CDB's nationwide survey of 500 adults (18 years and older), the timing couldn't be better for high-end preventive care as educated consumers are feeling much more knowledgeable about trends in preventive medicine (27 percent in 1996 vs. 10 percent in 1994).
However, educating them is crucial as their confusion about ways to minimize their risk of serious illness has increased to 20 percent in 1996 from 17 percent in 1994.