Developing a marketing plan for a residency practice

Competition for patients is becoming a hallmark of the health care system. Family medicine centers must increasingly think about marketing if they are to attract and retain adequate numbers of patients for resident education. As we have learned from direct experience, marketing is best done in the context of a comprehensive plan. We believe residency faculty can develop and successfully implement marketing plans. Since 1982, we have developed and implemented a marketing plan for the Mercy Family Medicine Center located in Denver, Colorado. We describe the planning process we employed and briefly discuss the successful results due to the plan's implementation.