Abstract. The application of marketing in the health services presents certain particularities determined by market characteristics, of the organizations, products, staff and consumers. The consumers of health services are different of those of other goods and services, due to the lack of information concerning the means of rendering a service and its price, the means of taking a decision, the purchase and consume conduit, the capacity limited by the assessment of the services’ and result quality. In addition, within the last years there have been registered major changes in the conduit of the consumer of health services pursuant to the significant modifications occurred at the demographic and social level.

Under these conditions, the grounding of the strategies of the organizations which function in the health field, both at macroeconomic, and microeconomic level, cannot be performed without a deep knowledge of the consumer of health services, with its needs, preferences, and its conduit of purchase and consume.

Keywords: patient; consumer; need of health services; demographic and social changes; image of health services.