Minority groups represent one-third of the American population and are estimated to spend every year on goods and services at more than $2 trillion. This constitutes a huge market for the providers of healthcare products and services, but only if they know how to meet the unique needs of people from Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Native-American, Middle Eastern, and other cultures.
• The U.S. population has become more racially and ethnically diverse, healthcare organizations are beginning to appreciate the importance of ethnic and minority marketing.
• Health marketers have only now begun to refine their skills in marketing to mainstream consumers, redirecting their attention to the nation’s various racial, ethnic, and national subgroups.
• All industries face opportunities and barriers in marketing to multicultural populations, the significance of this challenge is undoubtedly greater in healthcare. The stakes are greater due to growing competitiveness and, more importantly, because the patient’s health and even life is at stake, with no margin for error in marketing communications.
• Healthcare organizations that want to effectively market to multicultural people are often hindered by a lack of knowledge about the target groups. Further, a number of U.S. cultural perceptions cause many marketers to develop inaccurate perceptions of the populations they’re cultivating, although some of these beliefs may sometimes be true.

• People from other cultures only want to do business with someone of their own culture. In reality, members from many cultural groups prefer to obtain services from outside their own culture.
• According to the American Medical Association, only 3.5% of doctors are Hispanic and 2.6% are African American at a time when 15% of the U.S. population is of Latino/Hispanic descent and 14% are African Americans. As a result, members of ethnic and minority groups must seek out practitioners from other backgrounds out of necessity.
• Nursing Management reports that less than 2% of healthcare executives are non-white. The situation is not any better in the pharmaceutical industry where few minorities are employed in sales, marketing, and development, or even used as drug-trial participants.

Many cultural beliefs have implications for healthcare, which may be direct or indirect. The manner in which services are packaged and promoted or the terms used or notions conveyed in promotional materials may create problems in cross-cultural communication.

Many people who are new to this country are extremely private about medical and other personal data. They may be unfamiliar with the healthcare system in America and may be distrustful of such organizations because of past experiences in their home country. HealthSaludUSA’s affiliate – Applied Media Intelligence – can help.

The U.S. healthcare system may be one of the biggest challenges for newcomers to adapt to. After all, even native-born Americans have a very hard time understanding the benefits of their medical plans. A little effort expended in accommodating the perspectives of multicultural customers will go a long way in winning acceptance and loyalty.

Making changes to accommodate the needs and perspectives of minority patients don’t have to be hard. It does take some thought and an appreciation of the patients’ expectations. A good place to start is with promotional brochures and patient forms. They should be printed in the major languages of the patients who seek services with your organization. Avoid the mistake, however, of carrying out word-for-word translations from English, since many concepts and words in English don’t convert easily to other languages. Culturally appropriate materials are only the first step. The importance of easy-to-understand communication for the patient experience can’t be overemphasized.

While this maxim should be more relevant in healthcare than in any other industry, it’s a goal that we sometimes fail to achieve. Recent research reveals that members of different racial and ethnic groups are often assigned different diagnoses despite having the same symptoms. Further, these patients are likely to be treated differently once diagnosed. This may range from providing limited treatment to members of some minority groups and extensive treatment to others or providing different therapeutic modalities to different groups despite a common diagnosis.

This is probably the biggest myth when dealing with people from other cultures. Members of ethnic and minority groups know they are different. Unless culture is mentioned early in the relationship between a health professional and a multicultural patient, it will always stand as a barrier to building true rapport.