Microcomputer mapping helps healthcare planners target market.

In the highly competitive healthcare arena, microcomputer maps illustrating everything from population shifts to sources of patient referrals are becoming important planning and marketing tools. Mapping can help facilities focus their marketing on the physician community in general or on particular physicians who may refer patients for specialized care. It can locate patients by type, physician, and other data; it can be used to illustrate requests for state approval of expansions and acquisitions; and it can help organizations target certain areas for changes in service delivery, marketing, or physician placement. Five basic components are needed to create microcomputer maps: a computer with graphics capabilities; an output device such as a printer or plotter; a data file; a boundary file; and mapping software.