Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Ma, can we go to the hospital mall?


Traveling in Chicago recently, I saw these ads on the side of a major hospital.  I was struck by the idea that advertising for a mall was getting equal billing to advertising for orthopaedic services.  Orthopaedics has always been a high profit item for hospitals.  I guess dining and shopping has now reached that same level.

4 comments:

Johann Odermann said...

From Facebook:

Market share, share of voice. With the increased responsibility of healthcare consumers (AKA patients....) in paying for more of their care - hopefully they spend more time researching quality and outcomes than they do on other purchases at malls. Kicker is that depending on their insurance, networks - both provider and hospital - are being trimmed.

Naomi Kaufman Price said...

From Facebook:

But don't order the liver & onions, or the kidney pie. (I have my eye on silk scrubs and a cashmere robe, in case you decide to stop in for some shopping, too.) Which actually gives me an idea: Flash mob. Health care activists, en masse, show up to you know, have a little fun. How about in honor of Abbie & Jerry & the other Yippies? It is Chicago, after all.

e-Patient Dave said...

I do kinda like the idea of "hospimall."

Updated from what I said on FB:

Considering that most hospitals ARE malls - a building where independent unrelated businesses are housed (doctors, who pay rent but do business as they see fit) - I see this a bit differently. (And, I take your point.)

I don't think I'll ever get over how un-served, un-cared-for I felt when I discovered that was the truth about most hospitals, including mine. "You mean you can't make doctors stick to a hospital policy??? What??" Sick.

I mean, it's really, really, all about the doctors, and not the least bit about what serves the person in need. Sick.

Joannalyne said...

In the Philippines, more and more clinics are being put inside a shopping mall, and those are not just dermatology or eye clinics, but are multi-specialty clinics with emergency rooms and minor surgery rooms.