Insights: Healthcare Marketing

A lot actually. Other than the phone call to make the appointment and perhaps a visit to your Web site, it is a patient’s first experience with your practice and therefore, a first impression. Are you making a good one? Is your parking area well marked? Is there an ample number of spaces (including handicapped spaces)? Is there a designated and easy-to-use drop-off area? Do you have an overflow option for busy days? Is all of this communicated to your patients through signage, on your Web site and by your staff when they schedule patient appointments? 

One of your physicians was honored with an award from the local homeless coalition for 20 years of service to the organization. 

Another physician just completed his first triathlon. 

Your staff was the largest team and raised the most money at the diabetes walk last weekend. 

These are all great ways you are participating in your community, but do your patients know? 

Start a blog on your Web site and update it with brief stories about these events. Post them on your social media, too. Create a congratulations poster for the waiting room. Frame a photo of your team in action out in the community and hang it on the wall. 

Your practice has a heart and a soul. Now be sure to share it with your patient family.

My friend’s grandmother fell and broke her hip on her 94th birthday.  A day that was supposed to be spent with family celebrating ended up quite different -- with an agonizing day in the ER. Although in great pain, she kept her sense of humor and quickly developed an attachment to her ER nurse. The nurse shared how she was headed out of town for a football game as soon as her shift ended. When the nurse asked if there was anything else she could get her, the elderly woman quipped, “a birthday balloon sure would be nice.”

How do your patients perceive you?

In the face of shrinking reimbursements, health care providers are working harder than ever to maximize collections and develop new revenue streams. But at what expense?  Can you take it too far?

Don’t forget in the new world of healthcare, patient experience and satisfaction also influence reimbursement. And if you push too hard with collections, you run the risk of negatively impacting patient experience.

A couple of recent stories to illustrate my point:

The idea of offering online forms on your Web site is a beautiful thing. Done correctly, it improves access and increases your availability to and accommodation of your patients. The reality, however, is too often, we put the forms on the “lot” before taking them for a test drive.

We’ve all experienced it. You click on the link for an online form only to end up confused or frustrated and in too many cases, you simply pick up the phone or worse yet, give up. I suspect this is because the person who created the form never “tested” it on real end users.  And in this new world of pay-for-performance, patient satisfaction (yes, even the ease of filling out forms) is more critical than ever before.

When you greet a patient warmly, personally and immediately, your patient feels welcome and at ease.

When you take the initiative to help a patient secure missing paperwork, lab work, medical records, etc., your patient feels grateful, relieved and more confident in your leadership of their care.

When you are on time, your patient feels valued.

When you take the time to ask the right questions and truly listen, your patient feels heard and understood.

When you thoroughly explain treatment options and involve your patient in the care plan, your patient feels educated and connected (and will probably be more compliant).

You might not think a medical practice has anything to do with garbage collection.  I would argue otherwise. My colleague shared a story with me yesterday that drew the connection.

Everyone misses calls.  Your reaction when it happens makes all the difference though.  When a patient leaves you a message, do you view it as an opportunity to reconnect and dazzle or just another annoyance in your day, or worse yet, something to be ignored entirely?

Unreturned calls are lost opportunities. And lost opportunities can lead to lost customers/patients.

A friend of mine recently had a Dr.’s office call to reschedule her appointment. She was in a meeting and missed the call. She called back as soon as she could but had to leave a message. No one returned her call. She waited a day, called back again and had to leave another message. Still no return call.

Phone trees.  Almost everyone has them these days. Yes, they cut down on the expense of having to pay people to answer your phones, but at what cost?

When was the last time you made a call and had a wonderful experience with a phone tree — one that enhanced access and service, and made you feel elated about that company/organization and valued as a customer?

Occasionally, there are phone trees that work. I like that if all I have to do is order a refill on my prescription, I can call up my pharmacy at any time of the day that is convenient for me, punch in the right #s, and it is ready for me to pick up at my desired time.

A new, elderly, arthritic patient walks into your office. You are missing paperwork from her -- some from her referring physician and some you need her to complete. The patient is clearly nervous, rattled and upset because she thinks she has done everything that was needed. Do you hand her a pen, slide the window shut and go about your work? Or do you offer to help her call the referring Dr.‘s office? Do you ask if she needs to use a phone?  When you see her arthritic hand fumbling with the pen, do you offer to help her?  Do you care?