Healthcare Marketing Plan for Primary Care When promoting primary healthcare services, many factors need to be considered when of developing an effective marketing plan. Primary care providers are the gatekeepers of health care in the United States; many patients need to visit them before being referred to specialized providers (Bodenheimer, 2003). They are also responsible for ensuring that patients receive preventative services and manage more complex chronic conditions (Akinci & Healey, 2004). Recruiting primary care physicians is difficult because they are expected to do more and are not reimbursed proportionately for the additional workload (Bodenheimer, 2003). In this article, a group of primary care physicians in Washington DC seeks to study their consumer population in order to provide them with better services and recruit new primary care physicians to their practice (Colorado State University-Global Campus, 2013) . A successful primary care marketing plan will recruit quality healthcare providers while improving consumer accessibility to their services, customer satisfaction rates, and patients' continuity of care with their healthcare provider. Office Environment and Scheduling For primary care practices to be successful, they must organize their office environment and schedule to meet the needs of their consumers. Bodenheimer (2003) advocates improving accessibility to primary care by organizing their offices into teams. He explains that each team would include “one primary care physician, two non-physician clinicians (nurse practitioners or physician assistants), three nurses, and a receptionist” (p. 797). He states that patients will be welcomed by their team who knows their middle of paper ......th care. Greenwood Village, CO: Author. Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. (2011). United States Health Care Consumer Survey. Main conclusions, strategic implications. Retrieved from http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-United States/Local%20Assets/Documents/US_CHS_2011ConsumerSurveyinUS_062111.pdfHackworth, BA and Kunz, MB (2011). Healthcare and Social Media: Building relationships through social media. Academy of Health Care Management Journal,7(2), 1-14.Merritt, J. (1993, January). The art of recruiting primary care physicians. Administrator, 46(1),10-12.Robeznieks, A. (October 12, 2009). A strong boost in the recruitment of doctors. Modern Healthcare,39(41), 25-28. Rooney, K. (2009, July/August). Consumer-Driven Healthcare Marketing: Using the Web to Connect with Others. Journal of Healthcare Management, 54(4), 241-251.