The BEST Healthcare Practice Building Advice I Can Give

Meet Dr. Kelley

I’m going to break a cardinal rule of online content marketing today. What rule is that, you ask? I’m going to share – in my very first blog – the single best piece of small business marketing advice I could give to a healthcare professional. I’m not going to make you pay for it. I’m not even going to make you wait for it. Are you ready? Here it is: The absolute best piece of relationship marketing advice I can give to a healthcare professional looking to grow their practice is to connect with your community. Sound simple enough? Let me explain. Best Practice Blue

Chances are, if you’ve found your way to my website, you’re a healthcare professional who’s looking to build their practice. Perhaps you’re about to graduate or are new in practice. Maybe you’ve been in practice for years but continue to struggle. Or, perhaps you’ve had a successful practice but you’re getting bored with your same old marketing events. No matter which category describes you, connecting with your community can help to ramp up and reinvigorate your practice. But what does connecting with your community mean?

The best way to build a successful private healthcare practice is to become involved in the local community, build genuine relationships, and leverage those relationships to the benefit of all involved. In other words, connect with your community, and allow those community connections to help you build the practice and life of your dreams.

Community building is a key component of success. The health and well-being of your community should be in the forefront every day, which means that you need to connect with them on all levels: physically (through office hours), emotionally (by caring for their needs) and intellectually as they are not just patients but friends too. Connecting with those who support my healthcare practice has been one invaluable resource I’ve used to grow my business!

Dr. Kelley 5k Community Event

When I was new in practice, I had lots of time on my hands. I decided to give back to my community by hosting free health workshops for the local Fire Department. I donated thousands of hours to participate in ride-alongs, to create and deliver the workshops, and to create and sponsor 5 K runs to benefit specific Fire Fighters. The 9 workshops became part of a “curriculum” which all First Responders had to go through and covered physical health, nutrition, and stress management. I created a lasting relationship with this Fire Department focused on their needs. But guess what? Over time, as they got to know and trust me, when they required the services of a chiropractor, many of them turned to me.

Dr. Kelley Pendleton Connecting with her Community

Dr. Kelley Mulhern Connecting with her Community

Connecting with your community doesn’t need to take a lot of time, nor does it need to cost you a lot of money. Find a cause or a population you’re passionate about and figure out a way you can make a meaningful difference for them. Remember – it’s not about you…it’s about your community. But if you take care of them, they’ll take care of you! How can you connect with your community?

Metrics to Measure By

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

In order to gauge the success of your practice, you need to track certain data. In a sea of numbers, you need to know what metrics to measure by. ruler

Revenue Per Visit

It’s never easy to raise your fees but sometimes it’s necessary. You don’t want to do it arbitrarily, on January 1 for example, because it will seem to your patients, well, arbitrary!

You should have a solid number to base rate increases on. That’s what revenue per visit will give you. To calculate your revenue per visit, calculate the average amount you collect from patients and subtract the average cost of conducting a visit. Now that you have that number, you can determine if you need to increase your fees. (For additional information and guidelines, you can consult the most recent edition of the Physicians’ Fee Reference book.)

Not Always Dollars

Revenue isn’t the only metric you should judge your practice on. If you want to have long term success, you need to have a high patient satisfaction rating. You can design a brief survey for patients to fill out rating you on things like waiting time, ease of scheduling, how well you listen, and how helpful your staff is. A simple 1-10 rating on a few key questions is all that’s required to get some good data here.

stars-1128772_1280 If patients don’t feel they can address these issues with your office, you can bet they’ll address them on public forums like Yelp and Zocdoc and give you a poor review. Give them the chance to explain any frustrations to you.

Not Always Patients

It’s not only patient satisfaction you should be concerned about. How happy is your staff? How much turnover do you have? Unhappy employees aren’t going to treat patients the way you’d like them to be treated. Unhappy staff quit, and it’s frustrating for patients to see a different face each time they come in. It makes you look bad and it’s expensive to continuously hire and train new staff.

And honestly, a lot of doctors don’t know how to run the front desk. Some don’t even know how to schedule an appointment, let alone the complicated stuff like insurance billing or sending out blood for lab testing . If your entire staff quit without notice (whether that’s one person or several), how bad off would you be? You probably don’t want to find out.

You likely give feed back when a staff member does something you’re unhappy about. Give them the same opportunity to provide feedback to you. And make an effort to tell your staff when they’re doing something right!

Traffic Patterns

What times of day are you busy and slow? Do you open at 10:00 and wait until 12:00 for your first patient to come in? It’s easier for working people to come in before work or during lunch than late morning or late afternoon. Would your patients benefit from evening appointments? open

Start asking your patients if they’d have any interest in Saturday appointments. For people who are paid hourly, they lose money if they aren’t at work. Saturday appointments might work really well for them and increase patient satisfaction for you!

There’s a lot to be said for working a typical 9-5 schedule, but even if you were available one late evening a week or one Saturday a month, it might help increase your patient load.

Slow Times

Make note of busy and slow times of year too. Summer is typically slow for many practices. Use those times to go on vacation, to do renovations, or to do major systems upgrades. Sometimes if makes financial sense just to close the office rather than pay staff when it’s quiet.

Referrals

You should know where every patient who comes into your practice was referred from. By an existing patient, a Facebook ad, Google, another physician? If you want to grow you practice,you need to know where to concentrate your energy and money when it comes to attracting new patients.

If you aren’t getting patient referrals, something is wrong with your patient satisfaction or education. How can you fix it? If you aren’t getting a lot of referrals from people who were Googling, you need to improve your SEO.

If you aren’t getting traffic from ads you’re paying for, you need to rethink your advertising strategy. If you aren’t getting doctor referrals, you need to work harder at building relationships with your colleagues.

If You Don’t Measure It, You Can’t Improve It

You should always be striving to improve every aspect of your practice. And maybe you are, but if you aren’t using metrics to measure your improvements, you don’t know what impact those improvements are having. Or not having. And that wastes money, time and energy. If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.

For more information on building community connections, I encourage you to read my new book Community Connections! Relationship Marketing for Healthcare Professionals. If you want more valuable information about how to Connect with YOUR Community, you can find FREE healthcare practice marketing content, PowerPoint Presentation Jumpstart Kits, workbooks, blog articles, and my FREE “Practice Marketing Planner” Now!

Patient Education

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Patient education can make or break your practice. No amount of marketing can make up for a lack of patient education.

What Do You Do?

It sounds like a ridiculous question, but ask the average person what an orthopedist does. Answers might range from “I don’t know” to, “Something to do with knees.” But what if you’re an orthopedist who specializes in shoulders? A potential patient with a shoulder problem might pass you by because they don’t know orthopedists do more than deal with knee injuries.

It’s up to you to educate patients on what you do…everything you do.

How Does That Help Me?

The most important part of patient education is to teach how what you do can help a patient. (Also, why is it important for the patient that they should take care of their health issue?) Sure, fixing knee pain takes care of the immediate problem, but what else happens when the knee is fixed? When the body is taken care of, walking and exercising are less painful, favorite hobbies can be resumed, and quality of life is improved.

Educate patients on the positive “side effects” of using your services to resolve their current health issues — and to prevent future health concerns.

Your Site is Your Chalkboard

In 2012, 72% of people used the internet to find health information, and you can bet that number is even higher now. This means that one of your first (and best!) opportunities for patient education is your website. You want all the nuts and bolts such as your hours and if you accept insurance. However, you want more meaningful forms of education available, too. Tell your potential patients what you can do to improve their lives.

This is where having a section of your site devoted to blogging can be useful. It’s a more personal way to connect with patients and tell them all the great things you can do for them and their health.

Videos are Worth a Million Words

While you have patients in your waiting room, you have a captive audience. Rather than fill that time with outdated copies of People Magazine, set up televisions to play patient education videos. Sure, a few people might read brochures or check their FaceBook while they wait, but others will allow their attention to be captured by something on TV. Leverage the time patients spend in your reception area by using it to educate them on your practice.

Train the Troops

Make sure your front desk staff knows how to properly educate patients on the telephone. This is especially important if you don’t accept insurance. If that is the first thing a prospective patient hears, they may say, “Thank you,” and hang up.

Do you file with insurance as a courtesy? Do you have low-cost monthly plans that make your practice affordable for those who don’t have insurance? These should be the first things your staff is trained to convey to prospective patients calling with insurance inquiries.

Patient Seminars

Seminar Holding patient seminars is a great way to share your knowledge, educate current patients, and engage with potential new patients in a relaxed, informal setting. You can demystify procedures that seem “scary” to some people, showcase services that current and future patients may be unaware you offer, and increase awareness of yourself and your practice within your community.

These seminars can be very inexpensive, especially if you have space to hold them in your office. You’ll want to advertise the event on all your social media outlets and perhaps take out some ads in local media. Patient word of mouth will likely be your best advertisement, so encourage patients to bring along a friend or family member.

Always Be Teaching

Every encounter – physical or virtual – you have with a patient or potential patient is an opportunity to educate, and that’s an opportunity to grow your business. Patient education is one of the most important aspects of any practice. Always be teaching!

For more information on building community connections, I encourage you to read my new book Community Connections! Relationship Marketing for Healthcare Professionals. If you want more valuable information about how to Connect with YOUR Community, you can find FREE healthcare practice marketing content, PowerPoint Presentation Jumpstart Kits, workbooks, blog articles, and my FREE “Practice Marketing Planner” Now!

Up for Review

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

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Even if you haven’t intentionally created an on-line presence, you may still have an on-line presence. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you and your practice are up for review.

Buyer Beware

If you’re thinking of trying a new restaurant or hair salon, do you hop onto a site like Yelp to find out what others had to say about them? Many of us do, and increasingly, patients are doing the same before choosing a practitioner. A lot of patients are doing this, and as much of 85% of patients let these reviews influence their decision.

Consumers have a lot of sites to choose from for reviews including, Vitals, ZocDoc, Healthgrades, and even Yelp.

On-Line Word of Mouth

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Many practitioners rely on “word of mouth” for new patients. On-line reviews are “word of mouth” shouted through a megaphone! That can be good, and it can be bad. Good reviews can bring in lots of new patients, and bad reviews can slow the flow to a trickle.

We all know some people simply aren’t happy no matter what we do. And whatever you might think of being reviewed on these rating sites, you can’t ignore the impact on-line reviews can have on your practice.

Welcome the Feedback

It can be daunting, but dive in and read your reviews. Many unhappy patients won’t complain in person; they just don’t come back. To use the restaurant analogy again; think of the last meal you had that you didn’t like. Did you say anything at the time or did you just decide you wouldn’t return?

Because review sites give people a non-confrontational outlet, they’ll use them to complain. Try to stay objective and don’t take negative reviews personally. As hard as it may be to read negative reviews, you can use that information to improve your practice and your ratings. Remember, it can be frustrating because the things you think make a good practitioner may not be what patients are judging you on.

For example, you’re up for review on things like how well you listen, how long the wait after arriving on-time for an appointment is, and how well the staff interacts with patients. Patient reviews are less focused on things like the effectiveness of your treatment and their overall health outcome.

How to Handle Bad Reviews

If you get a bad review, do not comment back to the patient on the review site. You might think the response is measured, apologetic, or resolves the problem, but you don’t know how the reviewer will react. It can escalate the situation for everyone to see.

Ideally, you should reach out privately to the patient and ask how you can resolve the issues that prompted the bad review. Hopefully, your good will gesture will prompt the patient to delete or at least to amend the review, although you shouldn’t ask them to do so.

If the review contains false information, most sites have a protocol in place that allows you to dispute and possibly remove it.

Get Good Reviews

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One of the best things you can do is to simply let positive reviews counter and overwhelm any bad ones. But you have to be proactive in getting good reviews. People are much more likely to complain about something they didn’t like than to praise something they did like.

So ask for reviews and tell your staff to do the same. You can be tactful about it. If a patient pays you or your office a compliment, ask them if they would kindly write a review saying the same thing. Make it easy for them. Make an instruction form for reviews and hand out copies to willing patients.

Make sure to include the web address of your preferred site. You might need reviews on ZocDoc, but the patient may not even know that site exists and was going to leave a review on Yelp instead. They can take the instructions home and type the information into your preferred review site, or fill it out in the office and give it to your staff to enter.

And remember, if a patient takes time out of their day to leave you a positive review, let them know how grateful you are. They have given you and a great gift and you want them to know you appreciate it!

Look at the Average

If most of your patients are happy, and your practice is thriving, don’t let bad reviews get you down. Consider how you look at reviews of other businesses yourself. You probably disregard the over-the-top glowing ones (figuring those were written by the owner’s mom) and do the same with the over-the-top bad ones because you figure it’s the competition attempting a little on-line sabotage.

On-line reviews are a powerful tool but don’t let them take up too much real estate in your head. Address the legitimate complaints and watch the good reviews pour in!

Slow Summer Season

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Summer is upon us, and that can mean a slow down in business for some. Let’s look at some ways to give your practice a boost during the slow summer season.

Step Up Your Projects

Now that things are quieter, you have time to devote to all those projects you neglected when things were hopping. And if you focus on the right ones, they can help drive business to your practice during the slow summer season.

Write some posts for your blog and social media sites, in fact, write a batch of them to drip out during your busy season when you’re short on time. Is there a class you could take to help improve some aspect of your practice? Public speaking, writing, nutrition? Sign up, just don’t think of it as summer school!

Have you wanted to write a book? With the many options available for self-publishing, it’s easier than ever to write a book or an e-book that can help get your name out there and help to establish you as an authority in your field.

Think of the Children

Summer means that school is out, and kids are home driving their parents nuts! Even if you don’t see children as patients, there are still some things you could do that would be fun for them and introduce their parents to your practice. Mint

If you’re a nutritionist or dietician, hold a gardening class to introduce kids and parents to growing their own herbs or vegetables. Chiropractors can hold a class to show parents and kids how to protect their spines while enjoying their favorite summer vacation activities.

If you’re a PCP, you could hold a summer first aid class. These are all ways to get kids out of the house (and their parent’s hair) for a few hours and drive new business to your practice. At worst, you’ll build some goodwill in your community.

Recall

Are you keeping a recall list? If not, you should be and now is a great time to use it. If you use scheduling software, you should be able to pull a report for patients that have not been in since X number of days, weeks, etc. Contact these disappearing patients and try to schedule them for an appointment.

Depending on how big the list is, you can send out postcards, automated e-mails, or make good old fashioned phone calls. It’s a low cost, low effort way to round up some AWOL patients.

Start a Referral Program

Let your current patients find new patients for you! Offer something for each new patient an existing patient refers. But make it worth their while. Don’t just give out things like pens with your name and logo printed on them. Give away things of value. (Be sure to check with your state rules and regulations regarding “gifts” to make sure you’re not inadvertently providing “kickbacks” to patients.) Something like a free supplement of their choice, an ice pack, or an add-on service such as a free 15-minutete chair massage or an aromatherapy treatment are great ways to thank patients for their referrals.

I’ve also had great success with a handwritten, heartfelt note thanking the patient for trusting me with their family member or friend. Always remember that a referral is a gift from a patient to a practitioner, so make sure they feel appreciated!

Hold a Fair

Not the kind that sells fried stuff on a stick…a health and wellness fair! Partner with a handful of other healthcare practitioners, rent an event space and put the word out. Are there any sports tournaments in your community? This is a great place to set up a health fair. Fair

Cut Back

This won’t drive business, but it will cut down expenses if a slow summer season is impacting you more than you’re comfortable with. Go back through your schedules for the summer months for the past few years and see when the slow times were. Mondays, Fridays, the first few days before and after holiday weekends?

It makes more sense to close during those slow times and see more patients on fewer days or for shorter hours. Consider how this will affect your staff before making any decisions. (Alternatively, beef up your marketing calendar to increase your office visits.)

Take a Break

If you’re not seriously impacted financially from a slow summer season, do what everyone else is doing; take a vacation! Most Americans don’t get or take enough. Taking a break from work is good for you, your practice, and your patients. There’s a reason the flight attendant tells you to put your oxygen mask on first. You can’t help others if you don’t take care of yourself. School’s out, enjoy the lazy days of Summer!

Healthcare Marketing Mastermind Group

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Mastermind groups have been around for several decades, but have you ever thought of creating or joining a healthcare marketing mastermind group? A mastermind is a group that meets on a regular basis (typically monthly or quarterly) to share challenges, successes, and ask for feedback. The participants can be from the same profession or from a variety of professions. For a healthcare marketing mastermind, I’d recommend working with practitioners from various healthcare disciplines.

In its simplest form, the mastermind meeting allows each participant to introduce themselves, share a win, and share a challenge. The group is then able to offer advice or feedback regarding the challenges. However, the meeting format can be changed to suit the needs of the people involved. For example, the content discussed can be very general, concerning anything to do with business. Or, the discussion content can be narrowed down to a specific area such as goals/goal-setting, practice marketing, leadership, or practice procedures.

Topics for discussion in a healthcare marketing mastermind group could include wins, challenges, collaborative opportunities to educate the local community, evaluation of prospective marketing events, evaluation of completed marketing efforts, development of marketing plans (marketing calendars, “Connections CalendarsTM”), and so on.

One key piece to the success of such a mastermind group is the intent of the people involved. Each person must approach the group in a spirit of helpfulness and cooperation. This is not about competition. It’s about helping each healthcare practice to showcase itself in the community. This enhances local health awareness and increases the potential success of everyone involved. It’s been said that “a rising tide raises all ships in the harbor.”

Think of the local market as a pie. Each slice of the pie represents a “market share.” The bigger your slice of pie, the more patients you have and the more successful your practice becomes. A healthcare marketing mastermind group could help all healthcare providers. As the community becomes more educated about health and their healthcare options, the metaphorical pie (and your slice) gets bigger. As you help your peers, you also help yourself!

If the term “mastermind” doesn’t appeal to you, try another such as “Healthcare Marketing Forum,” or have the members collaborate on a name during the first meeting. A new meeting type that is gaining in popularity is the “accountability group.” These groups may be smaller than a mastermind group and meet more frequently as their goal is to help hold each member accountable to reach their goals.

What do you think? Would you be interested in creating or joining a healthcare marketing mastermind group? How have masterminds worked for you in the past? Leave your comments in the section below and help us create our own virtual mastermind group!

External Marketing for Healthcare Practices [Easy Definition]

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

We examined the concept of internal marketing for healthcare practices in a previous blog. Let’s turn our attention now to the concept of external marketing for healthcare practices. Simply stated, [external marketing] for healthcare practices is any activity or event done outside the walls of your office to promote your practice. The most effective marketing strategies utilize a combination of internal and external marketing for practice success.

What are some examples of external marketing for healthcare practices? Effective and attractive business cards and brochures you give to prospective patients at events…a healthcare talk or series of healthcare talks hosted off-site…providing services at an athletic event…sponsoring a 5K…and so on. (Remember, don’t get caught up in the labeling because it is possible for an item or activity to be used for internal and external marketing.)

When establishing your marketing calendar each year, start by scheduling one external and one internal marketing event or activity each month. You may be tempted to schedule more than one of each, but resist the temptation. Consequently, you may overwhelm yourself, your staff, or your available resources. Then when the event occurs, you’ll likely be exhausted and unable to project the best image of your practice. You can always add more activities and events to your calendar throughout the year as your resources and energy permit.

Once the events are scheduled you can begin the planning process. Create a system to organize all your event information and materials. Try a 3-ring binder or a digital folder structure, depending on your preference. This way, the next time you host the same (or similar) event, you don’t have to start from scratch! Establish reasonable goals for what you hope to accomplish with your marketing activity (i.e.: New patients, increased awareness, raise money for a charity, etc.). Determine how you’ll track the progress of those goals. Research, collaborate, delegate, and modify as needed.

Finally, with proper preparation, you can relax and enjoy the event when the day arrives. Afterwards, debrief with staff and volunteers. (If you can get feedback from participants that’s even better!) Discuss what went well, what could have gone better, and what to change for next time.

I’d love to hear from you! What types of events and activities does your practice do for external marketing? Share your most creative and successful ideas in the comments section below!

Mid-Year Goal Check

by Dr. Kelley Mulhern Leave a Comment

Can you believe we’re halfway through the year! It’s time for a mid-year goal check so we can see how far we’ve come and how far we have to go before the end of the year.

Review Your Goals

Earlier, we discussed setting goals . Because summer is slower for many practices, now is the ideal time to track your progress. Look at each goal. Why was it important? If you don’t have a good answer for that question, you aren’t likely to stick to those goals. Reaching a goal requires sacrifice, and if the goal isn’t compelling, you aren’t going to be motivated to work towards it.

A lot can happen in six months; you may have to make adjustments to both your goals and your plans to reach them. There’s nothing wrong with that, running a business is dynamic, and you have to be willing to change what isn’t working. What seemed urgent in January might not be a priority now.

Be careful that you aren’t doubling down on a goal that isn’t helping your business. It’s easy to fall victim to sunk cost fallacy when making business decisions. Car repairs are a typical example of the sunk cost fallacy. You spent money to put in a new transmission and then the brakes go out. The cost of the transmission and brakes together add up to more than the car is worth. The ideal decision would be to eat the cost of the transmission, it’s money already spent that you can’t get back, and buy a new car. But because you just spent all that money, you decide to spend money on new brakes too. Admit a mistake and don’t throw good money after bad.

Use a Real Measure

Hard numbers don’t lie, so make sure you look at them when you measure progress. Did your marketing campaign grow your patient numbers? Did the EMR system you implemented save you the time and money you thought it would? If the numbers aren’t adding up, you need to reassess your goals so you can “right the ship” before the end of the year.

Prioritize

Now that you’ve reviewed your goals, you need to spend your energy in the right place. Is there a goal on your list that stands out? There should be! Focus your attention on the big goals, the ones that will grow your business. That might mean enhancing your web presence, spending more time on community outreach programs, or improving the training methods for your staff.

No Zero Days

“No zero days” means that every day, you have to do something towards a goal, it can be a small thing, but you can’t let a day pass without doing something. Getting started is often the hardest part for many people. They’re fine once they get going, but getting going can be hard. That’s why implementing a “no zero days” policy is so helpful to eliminate that kind of procrastination.

You want to communicate more often with your patients by sending out a monthly newsletter, but it never seems to happen. From now on, you’ll do something to reach that goal every day. Sit down and decide on a subject for your next letter. Got the subject? Great, you can quit for today. But you’re already in front of your computer, and you already know what you want to write about, so you might as well write the opener.

Now that you have the opener, you might as well write the first paragraph. And so on until, voila! You’ve written the entire newsletter!

Accountability

Did you know that people who write down their goals and share them with others are much more likely to meet those goals? It’s true! A study found that more than 70% of people who wrote down their goals and gave weekly updates to a friend on their progress, met those goals, compared to just 35% of people who didn’t do the same.

Get yourself an accountability partner and let them give you the push you need.

Goals Not Traditions

If you find yourself making the same goals year after year, they’ve stopped being goals and become traditions. Use the mid-year goal check to cross those goals off your list once and for all. There’s nothing as motivating as a clean slate. That’s what you want to take into 2025, a clean slate, so you have a place to write down your new goals.