WHY DO HOSPITALS ADVERTISE?

The Seattle Times provides a fresh piece of this puzzle today, as my research continues into the marketing of medicine. This article is as good an explanation as I've seen in the press of the state of public district hospitals. Valley Medical Center (see my earlier post, below), was the first to launch aggressive general television advertising in the Seattle area. Is present day hospital marketing a necessity in a now-competitive hospital marketplace? Should taxes still support hospitals now that the urban and suburban marketplace attracts healthcare entrepreneurship? In Washington state, the issue has been joined.