The ABC of Health Communication Critical role in the context of Specialty Healthcare in India

Rising per capita incomes in a fast developing economy like India has resulted in consumers expecting highest level of services from all sectors with healthcare being no different. This change has led to the rapid growth of specialty hospitals and healthcare providers who are focusing on both chronic and lifestyle related diseases. In such an evolving landscape health communication has assumed a role critical as never before. While communication has several associated objectives to achieve, this paper elaborates upon 3 of them in the context of specialty healthcare in India. Healthcare has historically been one of the sectors where the gestation periods are very high for any organization to start showing profits. For this reason all stakeholders, including hospitals, healthcare clinics, health insurance providers, third party administrators and consumers expect the communication of facts or relevant information to be high on accuracy. From a provider perspective, communication needs to be in-line with the brand objectives of the organizations. Hospitals are focusing a lot on this aspect to ensure that prospective consumers easily relate to the health care areas where the provider is striving to achieve excellence. Last, but the most important aspect for health communication is a consistent focus on consumer mindset . There are multiple examples where organizations have been more successful because their communication strategically revolves around the changes in expectation and mindset of the prospective consumer. Accuracy, alignment to the Brand objectives and focus on the Consumer mindset are the most essential basics for a healthcare stakeholder to be successful from a communication perspective.