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under certain circumstances. Many private hos- pitals, on the other hand, have already found ap- propriate marketing strategies. They typically fo- cus on the areas in which they have particular expertise on their homepage. According to Drevs, it would not be advisable for these hospi- tals to place more emphasis on their form of ownership, because it is more difficult to con- vince patients that a private company is trust- worthy. “Many patients regard the idea of profit in the health care sector with suspicion,” says Tscheulin. Nonprofit hospitals, on the other hand, have an advantage on this point – an advantage that they are not yet taking optimal advantage of. In times of increasing distrust toward health care, charitable hospitals should be more vocal about the fact that their main interest is to do some- thing good. At the present time, one-third of all hospitals are run as nonprofit organizations. Their share of the market has remained constant for years. However, good marketing alone is not enough: “Advertising always only has influence up to a certain point,” says Drevs. A hospital cannot compensate for poor care with good advertising. Ideally, the expectations and preferences of the patients should be in line with the hospital’s ac- tual performance. The researchers now plan to present their findings to confederations repre- senting nonprofit and confessional hospitals. They are also currently in demand as speakers at conferences. Some nonprofit hospitals will likely follow their recommendations in the near future. In the meantime, the researchers are al- ready planning their next project: They want to extend their study to include other forms of inpa- tient treatment. The results could be relevant for hospitals as well as for many other health care facilities. Prof. Dr. Dieter Tscheulin studied economics and business administration in Gießen and Kiel. In 1990 he received his doctorate from the University of Lüneburg and worked until 1993 as a junior professor at the University of Namur in Belgium. He has taught and researched at the ­University of Freiburg as a professor for business administration since 1993. His research focuses on the health care sector and marketing management at companies. Tscheulin has taught at numerous nation- al and international univer- sities as a visiting profes- sor. He also serves as a consultant for several com- panies and as co-editor of ZögU, a journal for public and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Florian Drevs studied economics in Göt- tingen and Freiburg. He has served as a research assistant under the Chair for Marketing and Health Management since 2004. His dissertation dealt with ongoing reforms in health care policy and their conse- quences for health care providers. In addition to collaborating on various research projects, Drevs is working on his habilita- tion thesis, which he plans to finish by 2012. Ann-Kathrin Seemann studied economics in Freiburg. She has worked under the Chair for Market- ing and Health Manage- ment since 2010, first as a student assistant and ­tutor and since 2011 as a research assistant. See- mann’s research on types of hospitals from the point of view of the patient goes back to her diplom thesis. She aims to delve deeper into this topic in her doc- toral dissertation. “Nonprofit hospitals should start using their ownership status as a selling point” Further Reading Drevs, F./Tscheulin, D. K./Lindenmeier, J.: Ownership perceptions and influences on hospital choice (currently under review by Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly). Tscheulin, D. K./Drevs, F./Seemann, A.-K.: Konfessionelle Krankenhäuser – überlebte Organisationen? In: Eurich, J./Baumann, K./ Wolkenhauer, K. (Ed.): Zukunft konfessio- neller Krankenhäuser (in press). Tscheulin, D. K./Dietrich, M. (Ed.) (2009): ­Public and Nonprofit Marketing. Supple- ment 37 of the Zeitschrift für öffentliche und gemeinwirtschaftliche Unternehmen/Journal for Public and Nonprofit Services. 38 uni'wissen 04