7 smart steps to marketing your medical practice

7

7 Steps toMarket

Your MedicalPractice

to Succeed

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HEALTHCARE CONSULTING

HEALTHCARE MARKETING

HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY

PHYSICIAN’S SURVIVAL GUIDE





First Things First

Do You Know Who You Are Competing Against?

The most important part of your practice is your patients. The problem is that by

the time a patient gets to you, they may have had some bad experiences that have caused them to be jaded about the entire

healthcare process.

The competition among medical practitioners including hospital network systems, urgent care networks, private

practices and others is increasing as the demand for those services increase.

If you can’t seem to fill up your waiting room or yourschedule, you may be losing patients to other options.

Your patients

have More

Choicesthan ever before.

Are you competing against other Physicians?

Physician’s Survival Guide: How to Market Your Medical Practice to Succeed

You are competing against yourself when you are trying to increase your volume just to make up for the payers that pay poorly.

You get caught in a constant cycle of chasing to catch up and struggle to collect what you need every month.

When you depend on insurance companies to send you patients and dictate payments you loose control of the type of practice you want and your ability to be profitable.

If you feel like you are

working harder but

making less money it is

likely you are competing

against yourself in a race to the

bottom.

You can control

the direction

of Your

Practice.

Are you competing against yourself?

5 Physician’s Survival Guide: How to Market Your Medical Practice to Succeed





You Don’t Have to Rely onInsurance Companies

Many physicians do not put much into medical practice marketing because insurance companies and referring physicians are constantly sending patients to them for various services as part of a specific healthcare plan.

You no longer have to rely on insurance companies as your sole gateway for new patients. Networking and digital marketing provide you with an abundance of resources that will not only make you more appealing to prospective patients, but more personable as well.

Smart medical practice marketing can help you grow a stable practice, have more satisfied patients, and see better reimbursements.

Showcase YourThought Leadership

Patients and other health practitioners are looking to you for your expertise. Through educational websites, newsletters, webinars, seminars and books, you can communicate your standard of care, as well as how you deliver this standard. This is called thought leadership marketing and this approach works and works quite well.

1

2Learning how to better manage your scheduling, data entry, coding systems and medical records are part of the bigger picture for success. Patient portals are being adopted at a strong rate and are a requirement for Medicare Meaningful Use compliance.

The digital world has opened up a host of avenues that can be used to directly communicate with patients.

Here are the steps that willhelp you reach out in new ways:

1 Create a strong website that is easy to use on any mobile device.

2 Use search engine marketing to find out what treatments your patients are looking for and get their attention.

3 Create an email communication series that will educate your patients and make them more compliant.

4 Provide information about your practice and treatments that your patients can subscribe to.

Medical practice marketing shows your patients that you care and are willing to come to them, albeit in a digital form. Through online communication you can begin to create relationships with new patients before they ever set foot in your office. Medical practice marketing gives you the means to create those relationships without relying on an insurance company.

Communicate Betterwith Patients Online

87% of all new patients now look for you online first. When you create a website, new patients are able to access you in

several ways, that two decades ago, didn’t even exist. Patients can easily refer friends and family to you without having to go through a third party.

A patient who is considering you as a physician can do several things from a website without even dialing your telephone number:

1 Watch videos about conditions and treatments.

2 Subscribe to your email list to receive notifications and updates about your practice.

3 Read & watch video testimonials from other patients.

4 Read your bio and learn why you do what you do.

5 Schedule an appointment and register online.

3Your Website is Your Welcome Mat

Active networking and reaching out to both patients and other healthcare professionals is key to your success. Networking involves continually reaching out to others and creating a support system of individuals (in this case, patients) who need a highly qualified and dedicated physician. You can build your network through digital advertising, email campaigns or the creation of a website dedicated to you and the services you provide.

If you are a specialist you can reduce your reliance on a few referral sources by speaking directly to your patients. When your patient requests you to their primary care for referral the physician is thrilled because they know their patients are happy and taken care of. It reduces the burden on the PCP referral coordinator which they love. You are actually making that process better so they will refer more patients to you because they don’t have to work as hard.

5Physician ReferralBalancing

Staying in Touch with Referring Physicians while

Reducing RelianceYour profile is an online representation of who you are, what you do and why you do it.

Patients would like to know about the person they are entrusting their health too. They want to be able to like them as a person and trust them as a professional. With medical practice marketing, you present your image the way you want to be seen.

ReputationManagement: Your Online Profile

4

You can be proactive and reach new patients with the power of 4 billion online searches per day on Google. People are looking for relief from the diverse mix of conditions that they suffer from. This is where they need to find you, a qualified physician, before they find the massive amount of online advice that may not be accurate.

You have to grab their attention based on the pains they are having. They are more likely to be searching for “Migraine Relief” than “Valley Neurology”.

You can implement the following to help grab their attention.

Invest in a high quality

interactive website.

Use Search Engine Optimization based on the conditions you treat.

Invest in Pay-Per-Click Advertising to improve your

rankings and visibility.

Offer easy satisfaction surveys for your patients online.

Be transparent about how you treat and meet your

patients needs.

Use social media to your spread the word about your care.

6 Internet Marketing: Finding New Patients Easily to Expand Your Practice

One of the most powerful parts of having a good online marketing plan is that you can specifically find patients searching for your services in a certain location. It used to be that you would go to a hospital or community event to find patients who are part of your neighborhood. Now we can simply see who in your neighborhood is looking for you. Then reach out to them without the high cost of your time and still make a strong impression.

Patients across thousands of sites and apps share their location as they browse local content. A location targeted mobile ad will let them know when they are close to you. Help local patients find you when they are in need especially in urgent care situations.

Local Marketing:Be a NeighborhoodDoctor

7With so many bills to pay and insurance companies paying less and less how can you know if it is worth it to spend the money to market your practice?

You can expect a minimum of 15% increase in new patients in first 6 months and it goes up from there. Think about how your practice would handle the increase in volume and any potential staffing issues.

Getting Results:Is it Worth It To

MarketYour Practice?





How to Get Control of Your Practice Here are the questions you should ask yourself:

Are you getting paid what you are worth in your specialty?Is your practice at maximum capacity?Is there room on your schedule for more new patients?Do you have plans to expand in the next 4-6 years?Do you have payers that are consistently paying less on codes? Do you feel confident enough to drop a poor paying health plan?Are you planning to launch an ancillary or cash based services? Are you losing new patients to local competition?Are you overly reliant on referring physicians?






Here’s Howto Start

You should start by getting help and all the details needed to create a

great strategy.

Tactics are only as good as the plan driving them.










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7 smart steps to marketing your medical practice

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