Among hospitals alone, aggregate marketing budgets hit 2.27 billion in 1995. Advertising took in 1.2 billion, a 490 percent increase since 1984, documented by the National Hospital Marketers survey. Average overall operating expenditures have risen from 26.9 million per hospital in 1984 to 61.1 million in 1994, a sizable yet considerably smaller-127 increase and the numbers are still growing. Steven Streiber, president of quality expectations, says that "hospitals to spend 0.5 to 1 percent of their total budgets on marketing"(Capital Analyst Health Addition). But the 0.4 of aggregate hospital budgets spent on marketing and advertising in 1984 rose to 1 percent in 1994. (CMS) Marketing budgets, therefore are on the rise for healthcare providers overall expenses. The most recent data available in 2001 shows that prescription drug expenditures relative to national health care expenditures accounted for 140.6 billion in spending in 2001, and are on the growth of rising to 445.9 billion in 2012.(CMS,2002). So, a total of 14.5 of national health expenditures will be for prescription drugs. This is all relevant to advertising because of the fact that out of these expenses comes advertising. Spending on pharmaceuticals has accelerated greatly in recent years, and is now the fastest growing aspect of our health care budget. One can speculate as to how effective direct marketing is to consumers who don't pay for services directly. Between 1980, and 1994, healthcare expenditures paid out of pocket declined from 5 percent to 3 percent in hospitals, and 32 to 19 percent for physician care. Thus, trends are reducing incentives for individuals to shop for the best mix of cot and quality. According to IMS health, "spending on DTC advertising increased 47 percent in 1997, while spending on advertising to physicians was about 4 billion, which is four times more than to consumers.".
Direct to consumer Prescription Drug Advertising.