Concierge Care On the Rise

Modern day healthcare has turned alarmingly systematic. Due to recent changes in the healthcare industry, doctors using the pay-per-visit model are faced with the responsibility of taking care of literally thousands of patients per year and the added complication of contacting individual insurance providers for payment. This creates a disconnected relationship between doctor and patient and additional obstacles of dealing with insurance providers. Both caregiver and caretaker are now considering concierge medicine, or direct primary care (DPC), for both the financial aspect and the overall increase in quality of care.

Concierge is a healthcare membership or subscription in the way that you are not paying per visit but per month for unlimited access to doctors and all the medical services they can provide. For the patient this means more doctor visits and more personalized care, which can result in overall improvement of health by providing a level of diligent preventative medicine.

For doctors, this model of healthcare business is beneficial because patients pay upfront, there are higher premiums, lower reimbursements and low overhead. These factors also result in improvement in career satisfaction, as doctors are faced with less burnout and are able to provide the best care to each individual patient.

However, the success of a concierge medicine practice is heavily dependent on location. In an area of middle and upper class income a Concierge practice is likely to flourish. As more and more people are realizing their dissatisfaction in the changing healthcare industry, spreading the word about concierge medicine is beneficial. Marketing is essential to getting recognition and legitimizing your participation in this rising trend in healthcare.

The Importance of Utilizing Social Media Platforms In Your Practice

In the modern world, the digital platform is constantly growing and is more essential in our lives that ever before. Digital media is where social interaction, business and media consumption take place, and it now a substantial influence on the healthcare industry. Paper ads and word of mouth are no longer enough to bring in patients, medical practices that are not participating in the new wave of the technological world are at risk of being drowned out by the constant stream of advertising on social networks and digital media platforms.

There are legitimate reasons for medical practices to be apprehensive to involvement in social media; patient privacy, image as well as the time consumption aspect regarding upkeep of the sites. This is the way the world is moving, and with the right plan of action your digital media platform can provide your practice with a competitive edge, consistent business, and the promise of growth.

According to iHealth Beat 80 percent of people using the internet will use it to seek medical information, and Pew Research states that almost 50 percent of people use the internet to seek information on healthcare professionals. That is a huge amount of consumers searching for services, a huge opportunity for networking and a necessary tool to communicate with potential patients. Where will you be on Google search when a potential client is looking for a local healthcare facility specializing in your field? If one of your patients recommends you to a friend, and that person seeks out a website, social network profile, or reviews and turns up with ‘no results found’, the reflection on your business is not a promising one.

A multitude of information regarding your healthcare practice on the Web further legitimizes your practice to current and potential clients. When people seek further information on you and reach a dead end, that usually leads their search in another direction. To begin your expansion to online media, start by putting yourself in a patient’s shoes, provide visually pleasing and confidence reinforcing images. Consistency is key, when using different media outlets be sure that each is providing the same message, the mission of your practice and your unique services.

With your website as your groundwork, the essential representation of your business, all other social media and digital forums

are outlets to build upon that foundation. The fundamental  function of digital communication mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ is to provide a way to communicate with potential clients. With this in mind, it is important to create and facilitate ways to have your potential clients interact with you via these different outlets.

To keep your sites as up-to-date, successful and free from glitches as possible, be present; post frequently and respond to messages. Accessibility and connecting with potential clients will make them feel cared for even before stepping foot in your office. These methods do require putting in time and effort, but they also provide for limitless potential on how many new clients you can receive, elevating your reputation, as well as increasing revenue for your business practice.

LinkedIn Is The Professional-Serious Social Media For Physicians.

The LinkedIn groups feature might just be the best online professional forum for the conversation of healthcare and marketing ideas, material and common-interest networks. Today, LinkedIn is the third most-popular social media site (following Facebook and Twitter), with a current roll call of about 225 million users, and over 1.2 million groups. LinkedIn presents many opportunities to connect with other like-minded medical professionals and potential patients seeking information about health care, while also giving your practice a platform to market its services to the right audiences. The time is now to tap into this social platform by building credibility for your medical expertise and spreading the word about your practice. LinkedIn Groups provide a platform for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to exchange content, post and view jobs, make business contacts, find answers,  and establish themselves as industry experts.

Here is our list of top LinkedIn groups for healthcare professionals and physicians to join.

Forum for Healthcare Strategists

Health Care Communication News

Health Care Marketing Network

Healthcare Executive US

Healthcare Executives Network

Healthcare Intelligence Hub

Healthcare Marketing

Healthcare Marketing & PR Professionals

Healthcare Marketing Network

Healthcare Marketing, Communications and Education Professionals

Healthcare Patient/Customer Satisfaction

Healthcare Sales & Marketing

Hospital Marketing and Advertising

Hospital Sales & Marketing Professionals

HPRMA – The Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Association

Medical Marketing & Communications Group

Medical Marketing Network

Medical Practice Management

Medical/Healthcare Communications, Education, Advertising & Marketing Professionals

Professional Healthcare Marketers

Social Marketing in Healthcare

Social Media Health Care Marketing

Social Media Marketing for the Health Care Field

Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development

The Healthcare Marketing Community

Physician Liaisons, Physicians Relations & Practice Representatives

Physician Relation Strategies

Physician Relationship Management Group

Newsletters- A Great Way To Stay In Touch With Your Client Base

One of the best ways to stay in touch with your patient base is a newsletter, however, a template medical, dental or physical therapy newsletters you simply just place your logo on is NOT the way to go. The kind of newsletter we’re talking about is experiencing a resurgence of popularity in some markets.

Has someone on your staff gotten married, given birth or won an award? Do you know what your patients like to do in their spare time? Has one of your patients done something outstanding for the community or graduated from college or earned a big promotion at work? Or what their hobbies and interests are? Have you added a new physician or a new technology?

Those are the things your newsletter should be about. Of course, every issue should have one article with something interesting about your specialty. But the rest… lighten up and engage your patients! Smart medical, dental practitioners and other healthcare practitioners have learned to speak the language of their most influential patients – women, wives and mothers.

Women are generally the healthcare decision-makers and drivers in their households. Women are the ones who make sure their loved ones get the care they need. And women are the ones who are more likely to read articles about the social aspects of your practice than the clinical.

Not only can you send to current patients, you can also send newsletters to other prospect patients in the community to engage them and build awareness toward your practice. Newsletters that are emailed to your patient base (or eNewsletters) are a very cost effective way to stay in touch with your patient base and do internal marketing for your practice. For more information on the newsletter and blog packages that we offer call us at 631-392-4255

Physical Therapy Specific Marketing

In this age of augmented competition, you have to consider physical therapy marketing to reach out to your existing patients, attract new patients, and also convince and encourage other physicians to refer their patients to you. physical therapy marketing also fulfills various other promotional goals like creating a unique identity for your practice and harnessing the power of various traditional and new media outlets to spread the word about you. But to be able to reap these benefits, you need specialized physical therapy marketing services.

Physical therapy practices also need to develop professional relationships with local physicians to develop referrals to the practice. This generates more new patients coming into the practice and a building of the patient base. What promotions you leave behind or send out are a direct reflection of your practice. Show your expertise with a professional and customized, therapy newsletter, physician handouts, therapy brochures, physical therapy websites and more. Physical therapy marketing to physicians has to be ferocious as they are very busy people and are bombarded all day long from many other practices and vendors. As are physical therapists, but shouldn’t you rather be concentrating on your patients than be bothered about these marketing tasks?

You have to market frequently and invest a lot into it. However, with the right physical therapy marketing, you will win. This is where Prescription PR can really help you shine. Trust us to attract more referring physicians to your practice. Specialized physical therapy marketing services are necessary to help you reap the benefits of a comprehensive promotional strategy without needing to neglect your practice. So when in need of specialized physical therapy marketing call Prescription PR (631) 974-1824.

Your Patients May Be Your Best Marketing Medium

At Prescription PR, our in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry has given us the understanding that word-of-mouth marketing rules over all other mediums. That is why, what patients can do to help with marketing is sometimes much more important than any ad or commercial. If you are wondering what your patients can do to help with your marketing than look no further! We have some helpful tips…

Social Media-  When educating our clients—medical facility owners or  physicians with their own offices —on what patients can do to help with marketing, we first draw their attention to the powerful communication instrument of social media. This is a platform where personal and lasting personal relationships are built and a Facebook “like” or a Twitter “re-tweet” is as effective as personal recommendation. After all, most of us ten to be influenced by what are friends suggest!

But to mark the most of what patients can do to help with marketing on social media, we feel physicians have to take the first step, build a connection with their patients and make all energies to be perceived by them as a welcoming, helpful, and knowledgeable professional entity. It is only after this that you can mildly ask for their help to pass it on to their friends so that they can get all the latest health updates on your Twitter page or “like” your informative Facebook page.

Testimonials- A tangible piece of evidence that “real” patients have written about you and your practice, speaking on your behalf about how professional, friendly and helpful your practice is. Individuals browsing through your website will be swayed more by the patient testimonials than all the claims you make on the web banner or in the web copy In fact, you can even leverage on the power of what patients can do to help with marketing by dropping a hint about these testimonials on your social media page. Don’t be afraid to ask for your patients help, most people enjoy spreading great things that they have found.

You now know what patients can do to help with marketing your practice or medical facility. You probably don’t know how you can get them on board with your new marketing approach.  That is because this involves formulating a concentrated marketing strategy, something that Prescription PR knows like the back of our hands. Leave it to us; we have it down pat! Call us at 631-974-1824 or send us an email info@prescriptionpr.com

Staying Positive Through Negative Social Media Comments

Most of us have heard of “White Coat Syndrome” when a patient’s blood pressure spikes due to nervousness of being in or around a doctor’s office or hospital. In some cases it would seem that physicians tend to get “White Coat Syndrome” when it comes to social media. One fear of physicians is negative comments about themselves or their practices. It’s inevitable, the most perfect of doctors will unavoidably find an unflattering, incorrect or outright nasty comment. There are a few things you can do about it…

1. Be the leading voice. The content that you control and originate presents a strong voice among what’s found in online searches. The information that you generate and promote is likely to outweigh others and a better reflection of your reputation.
2.  For an improvement or elimination. Most sites list their contact information, and some (although not many) provide instructions for updates, corrections or amending comments. It never hurts to ask, but generally, success with such requests is limited.
3. Submit a response or update. It is often possible to answer an “unpleasant” comment  with a response or update. Some publishers are reluctant to remove comments, but will often welcome replies that provide words of balance.
4. Be factual, professional and understanding,  not argumentative. Any temptation to “fight back” or argue is a guaranteed losing battle and is likely to attract more attention and make things worse. An understanding tone of voice is more effective.
5. Encourage positive patient feedback. When reminded, patients are often receptive to the idea of making comments, providing testimonials or referring friends and family. The key—which is often neglected—is simply to ask patients.

The Internet, social media and healthcare have become permanently intertwined for good reason: People are at the core of this connectivity. Business-savvy providers understand the mutual, patient experience benefits of engaging patients, building relationships, improving compliance and outcomes, and managing your brand message and reputation.