Are we seeing a turf battle between Kettering Health Network and Premier? Not in acquiring patients- but in buying football fields?
Donation ‘the right thing to do’ [1]
One way to look at Kettering Health Network’s $1 million contribution toward the rebirth of Dayton schools-owned Welcome Stadium is as an investment in marketing.Kettering’s president, Fred Manchur, doesn’t look at it that way.
“This really doesn’t make business sense,” he said Tuesday, March 25.Sports stadiums in suburbs such as Centerville and Springboro may be attracting big dollar corporate sponsorship from other area hospital systems seeking to promote their brands, but having Kettering’s name on the field at the city’s showcase stadium really did not add up, Manchur said.
As a marketing or advertising vehicle, the $1 million contribution could not be cost-justified, he said. But part of Kettering’s mission is to serve its community and for more than two decades, that has included supporting the city schools’ athletic programs with sports medicine, even providing discounted or free treatment to needy city athletes.
In the context of the hospital’s greater mission, the gift made sense, Manchur said: “You have to take away the business aspect and look at what is the right thing to do.”
First we had Premier doing fields in South suburbs, not, we have KHN sending a shot right across the river at Premier. Don’t believe for a minute that this is a bad business deal.
Buying ads on TV is an expensive way to reach customers- sticking a permanent billboard on Welcome Stadium, right next to UD arena for X years isn’t a bad deal at all. Plus, being able to brag about how good of a corporate citizen you are…
Goodwill is one thing hospitals depend on for getting customers. Community standing, perceived as the more “caring” organization is worth way more than another bad billboard on I-75 which could cost $60K a year.
Nope, this is shrewd marketing at work. Too bad, it’s more about marketing than actually providing health care anymore.
Thank you.
David,
Thanks for the new post to discuss. And since you mentioned naming rights and trying to stay on topic, how come the federal government doesn’t support the Inuit tribe in the Alaskan oil rights debate and why haven’t we heard YOUR stance on this issue??
I don’t get it. Where do they get the money?
J.R.,
Typically the oil companies pay back to the state of Alaska payments that get distributed to the citizens of Alaska– sort of a reverse income tax.
I think KHN also owns Grandview Hospital, which is just up the street from Welcome Stadium and undergoing an expansion of their own. Factor that in, and it makes even more sense.
Sorry Pizza Bill I was talking about the Hospitals. Where do they get the money for advertising? Anyone know what kind of percentage that is in the budget? I got back from Miami Valley Hospital 5 minutes ago (I have a broken rib) and am curious to know how much of the chest X-ray and all that other stuff goes to “advertising”?
They charge you for services. You and/or your insurance pays the bill. The bill = money. They have X amount of money each year to spend on advertising. Hospitals are run like many other businesses. They are in business to make money. Period. If they don’t make money they close.
My guess on a % is less than 2%. Probably less than 1%. Is it fair? I guess, they are a business. Does it raise the cost of care – certainly. Do people in really poor health (smokers, fat people :) ) raise the cost of care for all of us – certainly. Such is life.
Actually, Kettering Health Network is way late to the game. Dave, Premier Health Partners not only bought naming rights to ‘south suburb’ high school football stadiums (Springboro, Centerville, Bellbrook); they also did so with Northmont High School in Englewood, Wayne High School in Huber Heights and Beavercreek High School. Premier’s deal ensures that when any student in any of those 6 very large public high schools gets a yearly physical (required by the state for nearly any extra-curricular activity) they go through the Premier network. Those agreements run for 15 years and with the proliferation of Sports Medicine niche professionals even at a high school level (knee specialist, shoulder specialist, strength training, nutritionist, and rehab physicians) Premier will have tapped into the wealthiest areas of the Miami Valley and have a cornered market on the ‘clients’. Kettering Health Network maybe ‘sending a shot right across the river at Premier’, but I have to tell you that advertisements in the end zones at Welcome Stadium gives you minimal exposure when you compare the weekly crowds DPS games get compared to Centerville, Wayne, Northmont and Springboro. Even when C-J plays there only half the stadium is filled. So long story short, Premier will make a ton of money off of these partnerships because they locked up the school systems with very high percentages of students in extra-circulars (i.e. in need of a yearly physical) and students with parents that will pay for the extra’s like Sports Acceleration courses (Olympic Level Speed Coaches) and nutritionists. The parents of these districts are so happy that Premier is paying for state of the art stadiums that little Johnny can play in that they go along happily. I wouldn’t worry about hospitals wasting J.R.’s hard-earned x-ray money; PHP saw a relatively untapped market, cornered it and locked it up. KHN missed the boat.
Thanks Pedro. I didn’t know the deal was to include school care. I didn’t understand why hospitals needed to advertise.