Bring ‘em Back: How to Reactivate Your Patients

Marketing 101 will tell you that bringing back an inactive “customer” costs much less than finding a new “customer.” The same is true with any healthcare practice and its patients. Developing a strategy to contact lapsed patients is critical to business success – especially during tough economic times. If your practice is not already tapping into the goldmine within your office, it may be time to take another look.

Most practice management software programs have the ability to sort patients by last visit, which creates a “target list.” (If you’re a paper-based practice, it may be as simple as pulling charts with year labels past a certain date – yes, more time-consuming, but equally important.) Contacting the patient, then, can be as simple as sending a letter stating the date they were last seen and perhaps some of the details of their last visit. As postage rates continue to increase, postcards are also an effective method for breaking through mailbox clutter. Or, if time and budgets allow, a phone call can be a very personal way to touch base with these gone-but-not-forgotten patients.

The key is to communicate your concern for patients’ health and to encourage them to return to your office for proper care.

                                                                                            -Karyn Dadian

                                                                                             Marketing Manager

  Let us know!  How do you bring your patients back?