Dr. Kash and students develop strategic marketing plan for physical and occupational therapy services in Grimes County

Bita A. Kash, PhD, MBA, assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, recently published a paper in Health Marketing Quarterly.

The article, “Developing a Strategic Marketing Plan for Physical and Occupational Therapy Services,” resulted from a collaborative project between the Grimes County St. Joseph’s, the only critical access hospital (CAH) in the county, and Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health’s Master of Health Administration and Master of Public Health degree students in Dr. Kash’s Strategic Healthcare Marketing class.

The CAH in Navasota was experiencing a “steady decline in skilled admissions, plus decreasing visit numbers for the physical and occupational therapy (PT/OT),” said Lydia Copeland, MHA, RN, CAH, former administrator.

Using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, hospital statistics, data from the State of Texas, and feedback from the local community and health care customers, graduate students were able to determine “lack of awareness and negative perception were key issues. Potential patients and physicians were unaware of the PT/OT department and services offered,” Dr. Kash said.

“Based on the results, our image clearly needed updating, and our physicians and community customers were either unaware of our services or neutral about the quality,” Copeland said. “We recommended strategies including developing a well-integrated website, building relationships with physicians, partnering with the school district and enhancing the wellness program.”

Ashish Deshmukh, MPH, a Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health graduate, was a contributing author on the article.

Texas A&M Health Science Center is Transforming Health through innovative research and education in dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and medical sciences. A unit of Texas A&M University, the health science center serves the state through campuses in Bryan-College Station, Dallas, Temple, Houston, Round Rock, Kingsville, Corpus Christi and McAllen.