| Course | BUS 532 Healthcare Marketing |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Service line strategy |
| Length | About 1,020 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUS 532 Module 4
From Departments to a Service Line: Segmenting Women's Health Needs and Organizing Care Around Them at a Regional Health System
Student Name
MBA Program, Aspen University
BUS 532: Healthcare Marketing
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
From Departments to a Service Line: Segmenting Women's Health Needs and Organizing Care Around Them at a Regional Health System
Smoky Ridge Health, a composite system with four hospitals and 40 clinics in eastern Tennessee, offers a wide range of services for women: obstetrics at three hospitals, mammography and breast surgery, gynecology, urology and primary care. Each service sits in a different department with its own scheduling, leadership and budget. Patients with related needs, such as a woman with bladder problems after childbirth or a woman in menopause with bone density and heart concerns, see several specialists who rarely communicate. Meanwhile, a competing system has opened a branded women's center. Smoky Ridge's leadership wants a women's health strategy. This paper proposes how to segment the market and organize a service line.
Why Organize Around Patients
Porter and Lee (2013) argued that health care should be organized around patients' medical conditions rather than around specialties and departments, through integrated practice units in which one dedicated team handles a condition from diagnosis through recovery and tracks how patients fare. They contended that such organization improves outcomes and lowers costs because care is coordinated and teams gain experience. Berry and Seltman (2008), describing Mayo Clinic, found that its reputation rests on an organization designed around the patient's needs: teams of specialists work together, schedules are coordinated so that patients can see several clinicians in one visit, and physicians are salaried so that collaboration is rewarded. Both works suggest that the problem at Smoky Ridge is not a lack of services but their organization.
Defining Segments
Kotler et al. (2008) note that segmentation in health care often works best when based on needs and conditions rather than demographics alone. Using its records, Smoky Ridge defined four segments among the roughly 120,000 women who use its services each year.
Pregnancy and early parenting includes about 6,800 births a year across three hospitals, plus prenatal and postpartum care. Preventive and breast health includes about 48,000 screening mammograms and follow-up imaging and surgery. Midlife and menopause includes women from about 45 to 60 with symptoms, bone health and heart risk concerns; volumes are hard to count because care is scattered, but the system's primary care records show about 31,000 women in this age group. Pelvic floor and bladder health includes incontinence and prolapse, conditions common after childbirth and with age, treated across gynecology, urology and physical therapy.
Scoring the Four Segments
Scores run from 1, least favorable, to 5, most favorable; for competition, 5 means few competitors. Obstetrics is strong but mature, with births flat and a competitor's new unit. Midlife and pelvic health show the greatest unmet need: patients describe long waits, uncoordinated care and clinicians who dismiss their symptoms, and no competitor offers organized programs.
| Segment | Unmet need | Growth | System capability | Competitive intensity | Total, 4 to 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pregnancy and early parenting | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| Preventive and breast health | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 13 |
| Midlife and menopause | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 16 |
| Pelvic floor and bladder health | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 17 |
Priorities
The service line will include all four segments under one name, but investment for the first two years will focus on midlife and menopause care and on pelvic floor and bladder health, while obstetrics and breast health are brought into shared navigation and branding.
Designing the Service Line
The service line will have four elements. A nurse navigator will be the first contact for any woman with a women's health need, scheduling appointments across departments and following up after visits. A shared scheduling system will allow coordinated visits, so that a patient can see a gynecologist and a pelvic floor physical therapist on the same day. A menopause clinic, staffed by a certified menopause practitioner, a gynecologist and a cardiologist one day a week, will address symptoms, bone health and heart risk together. A pelvic health program will bring gynecology, urology and physical therapy into one clinic with shared records and case conferences.
Positioning
The positioning statement reads: For women in eastern Tennessee at every stage of life, Smoky Ridge Women's Health coordinates the specialists you need around you, so you are heard, seen sooner and cared for as a whole person, because our navigators and teams work together across every clinic. The idea to own is coordinated care around you, which competitors' building-centered branding does not offer.
Organization and Leadership
Following Berry and Seltman's lesson that structure shapes behavior, the service line will be led by a physician and administrator pair with authority over shared scheduling, navigation, the new clinics and the service line budget. Department chairs will remain responsible for clinical standards, but service line leaders will set access and coordination targets.
Implementing in Phases
The service line will launch in three phases over two years. In the first six months, the system will hire two nurse navigators, unify scheduling templates across the four departments and open the pelvic health program at the largest hospital. In months seven through twelve, the menopause clinic will open, and obstetric and breast health patients will begin receiving navigation. In the second year, both new programs will expand to a second hospital, and the service line will publish its first outcome and access report. Phasing allows the system to learn from the first clinics before committing more staff and space, and gives physicians time to adjust to shared schedules.
Measures
Measures will combine clinical, experience and market results: days to first appointment, the share of patients seen by more than one specialty on the same day, symptom and quality of life scores for menopause and pelvic health patients, patient experience ratings and the system's share of women's health visits in its region.
Conclusion
Smoky Ridge already provides most of the services women need, but organizes them around departments rather than patients. Segmenting by need reveals two groups, midlife women and women with pelvic floor conditions, whose care is poorly coordinated and underserved by competitors. A service line built around navigation, coordinated visits and team clinics, positioned on coordinated care and led with real authority, can improve both care and the system's competitive position.
References
Berry, L. L., & Seltman, K. D. (2008). Management lessons from Mayo Clinic: Inside one of the world's most admired service organizations. McGraw-Hill.
Kotler, P., Shalowitz, J., & Stevens, R. J. (2008). Strategic marketing for health care organizations: Building a customer-driven health system. Jossey-Bass.
Porter, M. E., & Lee, T. H. (2013). The strategy that will fix health care. Harvard Business Review, 91(10), 50-70.
What the BUS 532 Module 4 instructions ask for
Aspen's catalog for BUS 532 asks how marketing principles apply in health care, and a segmentation module usually asks students to divide a health care market and design services or a service line for chosen segments. What follows is one system's service line plan; check your own prompt for any required headings. Define segments by needs that change what care patients require, not only by age or income. Use data on volumes, growth and competition where possible. Evaluate segments against criteria, including the organization's clinical capability. Choose priorities and explain them. Describe the service line's scope, how care will be coordinated and how it will be positioned. Address organization and leadership, since service lines fail without clear ownership. Include measures of clinical and market results.
Inside the BUS 532 Module 4 example
The paper opens with Smoky Ridge Health's women's services spread across obstetrics, radiology, gynecology, urology and primary care. Porter and Lee's Harvard Business Review article argues for integrated practice units organized around conditions, and Berry and Seltman's book describes how Mayo Clinic's team-based, patient-centered organization supports its reputation. Four segments are described with volumes from the system's records. An evaluation table scores each on unmet need, growth, capability and competition, ranking midlife and menopause care and pelvic floor health above obstetrics, where the system is already strong. The service line includes a nurse navigator, shared scheduling, a menopause clinic and a pelvic health program combining gynecology, urology and physical therapy. A positioning statement and a leadership structure with a physician and administrator pair follow, with measures.
Reading the BUS 532 Module 4 grading rubric
Service line papers in an MBA healthcare marketing course are graded on the logic of segmentation, the use of evidence in choosing priorities, the design of the service line and attention to organization and measurement. This example defines segments by clinical need and life stage, explains why that is more useful than age alone, and evaluates them with stated criteria. Porter and Lee's Harvard Business Review article and Berry and Seltman's book supply the rationale for organizing around patients rather than departments. Kotler, Shalowitz and Stevens's text supports the marketing view of service lines. The design section specifies concrete elements, such as navigation and shared scheduling, and the organization section assigns leadership. Measures combine clinical outcomes, patient experience and market share, which reflects how service lines are judged in practice.
BUS 532 Module 4 help from the desk
The most frequent weakness in Module 4 is segmenting a health care market only by demographics. Patients of the same age can have very different needs; define segments by condition, life stage or the care they require. Another is creating a service line in name only, with a new logo but the same separate departments. Show how care will be coordinated and who will lead it. Use data on volumes and growth where you can, and be candid about competitors. Evaluate segments with criteria rather than choosing those that sound appealing. Keep the patient at the center, since service lines that serve the organization's convenience will not change patients' experience. Include measures that combine clinical results with market results. Finally, keep the scope realistic for the first two years.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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BUS 532 Module 4 questions, answered
What does BUS 532 Module 4 usually ask for?
Aspen's BUS 532 covers segmentation and service line strategy in this module, so dividing a health care market by need and designing services for chosen segments is typical. Check your classroom prompt.
What is a service line in health care?
An organized set of services for a group of related conditions or patients, managed as a unit across departments, such as heart care or women's health.
What is an integrated practice unit?
Porter and Lee's term for a team organized around a medical condition, providing the full cycle of care with shared facilities and measured outcomes.
Where can I find a free BUS 532 Module 4 sample paper?
The complete strategy is shown above: a health system's women's health service line built from four need-based segments, with an evaluation table, design, positioning and measures.
How should health care segments be defined?
By needs that change the care required, such as condition, life stage or severity, so that each segment calls for a different service design.