Business Planning/Forecasting – what can it do for your practice? Leave a comment
Are you a Consultant without a website? 11 comments
Sometimes Consultants just feel it isn’t right to mix Medicine with Marketing. Healthcare is a necessity that everyone needs at some point in their life, whether they have the option of being seen privately or under the NHS it is required.
If a patient decides to be seen privately they want to know who, when and where. They need to gather as much information about the Consultant, what they specialise in, where their clinics are held, contact details and maybe how long they have been registered etc.
If anyone wants to find anything out where is the first place they normally look? Yellow pages, Thomson Local, I think you’ll find gone are the days of the phone books, the majority of people now look online for information about anything. Don’t you?
Also can you always depend on a steady stream of private referrals from GP’s and insurance providers. A number of employers are cutting back or withdrawing private health insurance as a benefit all together. So looking at it on a long-term basis where will you get future referrals.
Having a website can be an excellent tool for patients and your private practice. It can be tasteful, there are even companies which deal specifically with healthcare websites. A website can give the information required to a prospective patient, as well as informing them on what to expect when they come for an appointment, applicable fees and possibly explaining the types of investigations that may be required. The more information a person can find on someone or something, the more likely they are to come to you. Even Consultants with a small private practice may benefit from a website.
From my own personal experience I know clients have found me on a well-known advertising website and have stated that they decided to contact me rather than anyone else as I had a direct link to my website from the advert. The same could apply to Consultants. They may be listed on a private hospital website but normally there is more than one Consultant in any given specialty. If there is link to your private website with more information, will prospective patients be more likely to contact you than try to find information about other Consultants clinics by having to call the hospital. If information is accessible and easily available it is highly likely they will choose your practice.
Some Consultants I know feel uncomfortable marketing themselves or their private practice, but you are just giving patients information to make an informed choice. After all NHS hospitals now have their own websites giving information to patients and visitors.
One last thing, have you Googled yourself lately?
Social Media – good or bad for the medical profession? 3 comments
Here is an article which you may find interesting if you cannot decide whether you should be tweeting or blogging?
Last summer, I joined millions of others in the deluge of social media. I committed one year of effort to see if social would enhance or distract from my pediatric practice.
That was my goal, just one year.
At that time, I wanted to dip my foot in the pool, and see if it made any ripples. The unexpected consequence was how much social media has changed my medical practice, and me. Ripples have returned as tidal waves. My practice has seen tangible, real valuable benefits. I have been intellectually challenged, and have professionally grown.
For my practice:
•Increasing new patient traffic is creating revenue for our group.I average 1 new patient family per week who came because of our social media presence. I know this because they tell me, “I am here to see you today because I found you on Facebook,” or “I found your blog.”•52 patients a year x $2700 (average pediatric care for 0-24 mon.) = $140,000 of average billable income over two years.
• Creating information has added to my “search-ability” in search engines. All my work is available publicly and with fully disclosed authorship, so new patients can find me with ease.
•Investing time in relevant and complete posts actually saves me time in the long run. Questions I am repeatedly asked, like “How do I start solid foods?“, can be answered quickly and completely by directing them to my site. This saves face-to-face clinic time for more specific concerns for their child.
•I have created opportunities to make my families lives easier by using the tech at their fingertips.
•Selectively following leaders in the field of pediatrics has allowed me to refresh and update my knowledge daily. The lead article in medical journals, the newest recall, the updated reports are in my information stream. Sharing the headlines and reports that will most assist my patients continues the information stream in real-time.
•I can get help for my patients across the country through online professional connections, and I have experts at my fingertips who can help me answer questions.
For me:
•Being part of the health social media and blogging community has given me a connection and an outlet. I can express myself as a physician and a mom, creating a “professional diary” of my life.
•I have met amazing people with big ideas and bigger hearts, who inspire and challenge me daily.
•I have seen a glimpse of how big an effect a group of vocal health writers can have; how active advocates can act to correct falsehoods and incorrect reporting. I am a part of a movement; a way that healthcare is changing.
•I unexpectedly found how one purpose could be defined, in such a short amount of time.
For my patient families:
•I can actively communicate, acknowledge, and positively influence the choices that my families make for their children between the checkups. My anticipatory guidance can be repeated, reinforced, and repeated again.
•New websites, blogs, and apps are constantly being added to our fingertips. After review, I can refer my patients to some really cool, applicable tech options to better care for their kids. I would never know about this stuff if I was not involved with social.
•I can act as a “filter” to promote the good and refute the bad.
•I can be a source of reliable, real information.
But what is all of this really about?
•It’s about the mom who comes to me at the 18-month check up and tells me her child’s car seat is still rear-facing.
•It’s about the dad who tells me he went to the health department and got a TDaP before his new son was born.
•It’s about the complete stranger who sees me in my office building and says, “Are you Dr. Natasha? Thanks for writing about kids and fever. I had some questions and it came at just the right time.”
The beauty of social is that I never talked with these parents about these health and safety issues. Parents made good decisions for their families after getting the information. Period. That’s all they needed, and that’s all it took.
Wow.
Offering online authenticity, genuine concern, and experience (sprinkled with a bit of sound medical knowledge) has created an amazingly powerful platform, and helpful practice tool.
Although using social media does has some undefined, grey areas to navigate; for me one thing is clear, my goal of one year has been extended until further notice.
Natasha Burgert is a pediatrician who blogs at KC Kids Doc.