What criteria or needs determine the type of health program or initiative that will be implemented? How might health care administrators identify the needs of their target audience or community when planning health programs or initiatives?

Formative evaluation processes aid health care administrators in determining the needs of a target audience or community. The identification of these needs, in turn, help to outline the type of health program or initiative that is to be developed. Once the needs and type of health program or initiative are identified, health care administrators can then determine how best to install this type of health care service and to determine measures that might be used to gauge the success or effectiveness of the service, once installed. Engaging in formative evaluation is a critical tool for the health care administrator and is a process that you will most likely encounter in practice.

For this Assignment, review formative evaluation processes in the resources for this week. Then, consider how formative evaluation might be used to develop your marketing plan. Reflect on how you might include formative evaluation methods in the design of your health care services marketing plan and consider why this might be important for the practice of health care administration.

The Assignment (2–3 pages)

• Describe      two examples of formative evaluation for health programs that you might      use in your marketing plan.
• Describe      how you will include formative evaluation methods in designing your health      care services marketing plan and explain why.

***PLEASE SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT FOR MY MARKETING PLAN***

Resources for the week:

Hillestad, S. G., & Berkowitz, E. N. (2012). Health care market strategy: From planning to action (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

• Chapter      3, “The Challenge of a Competitive Marketplace” (pp. 57–82)
• Chapter      4, “Conducting the Internal/External Assessment” (pp. 86–129)
• Chapter      9, “The Approval and Monitoring Process” (pp. 279–291)

Parker, J. C., & Thorson, E. (Eds.). (2009). Health communication in the new media landscape. New York, NY: Springer.

• Chapter      12, “Making the Grade: Identification of Evidence-Based Communication in      Messages” (pp. 323–338)

Cooper R. L., Cloud R., Besel K., & Bennett A. J. (2010). Improving access to substance abuse treatment services for consumers with AIDS: A formative evaluation. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 7(1/2), 115–129. Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Hamilton, A. B., Cohen, A. N., & Young, A. S. (2010). Organizational readiness in specialty mental health care. JGIM: Journal of General Internal Medicine, 25(Suppl. 1), 27–31. Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Miake-Lye, I. M., Amulis, A., Saliba, D., Shekelle, P. G., Volkman, L. K., & Ganz, D. A. (2011). Formative evaluation of the telecare fall prevention project for older veterans. BMC Health Services Research, 11(1), 119–127.