MGHI empowers hospital marketing teams through strategy and connection
Gathering representatives from 27 hospital marketing teams, Mount Grace Hospitals Inc. (MGHI) held its annual Business Development and Marketing Summit, themed “Find Your Winning Rally: Connecting Marketing Strategies into Results.”
The 2026 summit brought together healthcare marketing professionals to collaborate on expanding market reach, strengthening sales strategies, and improving management practices while keeping patient care central.
CONNECTING MARKETING WITH PATIENT CARE
Leading the discussions was Bong De Ungria, professor at the Ateneo School of Business, who highlighted the importance of preventive care and long-term health. He discussed how HMOs, quality healthcare services, and convenient hospital locations can contribute to better patient access and overall experience.
Ungria also emphasized the need to understand patients and monitor their behavior throughout the entire customer journey, while ensuring that marketing efforts remain aligned with the ultimate goal of promoting patient wellness.
He underscored a fundamental marketing principle: “Know the customer so well that the product sells itself.”
Beyond understanding customers, Ungria highlighted the importance of building strong partnerships and developing people to achieve better sales and management outcomes.
He emphasized the value of training, seminars, and mentoring in strengthening employees’ capabilities, while technologies such as artificial intelligence and other digital tools can further equip teams to perform their roles effectively.
For Ungria, meaningful connections with patients are essential to turning marketing efforts into lasting healthcare relationships. Understanding patients’ needs allows healthcare providers to deliver services that are more holistic, relevant, and personalized.
TURNING STRATEGIES INTO LASTING PARTNERSHIPS
Ms. Roselle Azucena, Regional North Cluster Head, President of Mother Teresa of Calcutta Medical Center, COO of Fe del Mundo Medical Center, and Professor at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, served as the summit’s second resource speaker.
In her session, “Play to Win: Turning Key Accounts into Lasting Relationships,” Azucena discussed strategies for transforming hospital sales into long-term partnerships and creating a winning journey for healthcare providers.
Azucena highlighted the importance of effective hospital management in achieving sustainable growth, particularly by building the right patient volume, strengthening referrals, and maximizing service-line utilization. These efforts, she said, can improve access and continuity of care while helping patients and partners navigate healthcare services and information more effectively.
Azucena stressed that “healthcare selling is not ordinary selling,” as it requires a structured account-management cycle and an appropriate selection matrix to develop strategies tailored to different account classifications.
She concluded by emphasizing that effective account management must start with customer needs rather than a service catalogue. A strong value proposition should also be supported by operational proof.
By consistently applying discipline in engagement, service delivery, and issue resolution, hospitals can build stronger account strategies and turn business relationships into lasting partnerships.
MGHI PRESIDENT CHALLENGES MARKETING TEAMS
Meanwhile, Jose Santiago A. Dela Cruz Jr., president of Mount Grace Hospitals Inc., encouraged participating hospitals to remain passionate about sales and marketing while staying grounded in the core purpose of healthcare.
Dela Cruz acknowledged that hospital sales and marketing is not an easy responsibility, but one that can produce meaningful results when done strategically and with purpose.
“You have to make sure everything is in its place. It’s not easy. Eventually, you will also be known as a chief revenue officer of your hospitals,” Dela Cruz said.
He outlined the process of turning ideas into viable healthcare services—from identifying a need and developing a program to conducting due diligence, setting prices, marketing the service, and generating revenue.
“You think of the program, you think of your service, you think of the problem, you cost it, you do marketing diligence, you price it, you market it, you get revenues,” he added.
Dela Cruz also urged the participants to maintain a positive perspective and strong sense of purpose in their work.
“I hope you continue to put your level of interest to have a positive perspective in what you do, and hopefully, at the end of the day, we achieve what we aim to do, what we stand to do,” he said.
Through the summit, MGHI reinforced the idea that effective healthcare marketing goes beyond sales—it is about understanding patients, empowering people, building meaningful connections, and creating services that ultimately contribute to better healthcare outcomes.