1. People are mobile. Even the most successful practices lose patients due to attrition. We live in a society that is extremely mobile and now, perhaps more than ever before, people are willing to (or are forced to) relocate in order to secure a job. Keeping your practice name front and center in the community will help you attract new families who move into the area as some of your current patients leave, either by choice or by necessity.

2. Patients are not as loyal as they once were. Thirty years ago, patients tended to find a practice they felt comfortable with and stayed put. Today, patients will try out new doctors based on recommendations from friends, reviews they read online, or to get a seemingly better deal. Some patients are forced to transfer their care to other doctors when they get a new health insurance plan due to a job change. Promoting your practice on a regular basis will ensure that you have a steady stream of new patients coming into the office to replace the ones who move on, even if they don’t move away.

3. You never know when you’ll have a new competitor. You might be lucky enough to be the only one (or one of just a few) practitioners in your specialty in your town, or in your part of town. But what happens when, while driving to the office one day, you notice that you have a new neighbor who will be competing with you for patients? If you’ve been consistent with your marketing and promotions efforts, you don’t panic, because you know that your good name is well known in the community and will continue to be with each passing year.

4. Most practices need to grow to survive. Because of continually decreasing reimbursement from third party payers, the majority of practices need to see more patients year over year just to stay even. Even if your practice is successful and stable, the ability to steadily attract new patients will help ensure sustainability and long-term growth.

5. It’s easier to stay in the groove than to get back into the groove. Like many aspects of running a prosperous business (staying organized, keeping up with accounting tasks, etc.), promoting a practice is a habit. Once you’re into marketing activities, whether that entails an advertising program, community lecture series, staying in touch with patients on a regular basis, or any number of other tactics, it’s much easier to stay in the marketing habit than it is to get back into the marketing habit following a hiatus. So, unless you’re winding down toward retirement, putting practice promotion on the back burner is probably not a very good business move.

Take a look at your 2012 budget. Can you really afford to cut back on marketing and promotion? No, we didn’t think so. Instead of constricting, move into next year focused on abundance. Your approach and efforts will be rewarded.

Sending greeting cards is the most obvious way to express holiday wishes, and if you’re going that route, assign someone in the practice to determine the number of cards you’ll need this year. Consider mailing cards not only to current patients, but also to those who you’ve not seen in your office for a while. This is an opportunity to remind patients that you are available to meet their healthcare needs year-round.

Next, decide what type of card you’ll send. Many practices send Christmas cards, while some opt for a more generic “season’s greetings” or “happy holidays” message. Thanksgiving cards are also popular, and here’s an example of a nice combination holiday and new year’s greeting card. Once you know how many cards you’ll need and which type you’ll send, place your order early and stock up on postage.

Consider enclosing a group photo of your office staff and doctors with your cards this year to add a personal touch. If you have a small staff and everyone is open to sharing a glimpse into their lives outside the office, create a collage made up of each person engaging in their favorite sport orf hobby, and use that for your photo greeting.

Practices on a limited budget might choose to send holiday postcards instead of greeting cards. Somewhat more casual, postcards are less expensive than cards with envelopes and require less postage ($.29 versus $.44).

If you start now, you’ll have time to hand address your envelopes or postcards. This is a particularly nice touch today, when so much of our communication is done electronically. Receiving a card in the mail is special; receiving one that has real handwriting on it is even more so.

Greeting cards are not the only way to let patients know that you appreciate them during the holidays. Here are a few other ideas to consider:

• Tastefully decorate your waiting room for the season.
• Have small gifts ready to hand out to patients who visit your office over the holidays (2012 calendars, key chains, note pads, coffee mugs, water bottles, stickers for the kids, etc.).
• Hold a late afternoon holiday open house with seasonal refreshments and music.

Enjoy this upcoming holiday season by getting your greeting card or event project underway early. When the flurry of activity in December rolls around, you’ll be glad you planned ahead.

 Despite the potential obstacles, there are ways to make communicating electronically with patients work. If you’re considering this for your practice, here are a few points to keep in mind.

 Ensuring that private information stays private is priority number one with any type of patient communication, and e-mail is no exception. HIPAA does not specifically address electronic communication, so you’ll need to have policies in place that you feel keep you compliant with current regulations.

 Be sure to document in your records that patients have given permission to receive e-mail from your office, just as you would for leaving voice messages on phones. Have your computer system checked and/or upgraded so that messages are being sent and received in a secure manner. Your software vendor or computer consultant can advise you on using encryption and/or passwords.

Communicating basic information such as appointment reminders through e-mail can save time, but you’ll need to have a process in place that makes the task simple. If you use an electronic health record system in your practice, it likely includes a reminder function that you can deploy. If you’re using paper records, you’ll need to weigh the pros and cons of using e-mail reminders, taking set-up and ongoing staff time into consideration.

When you’re ready to begin using e-mail to communicate with patients, consider starting out slowly and with the basics. For example, you might start with appointment reminders only for a few months before branching out into allowing patients to request prescription refills electronically.

If your nurses and/or doctors use e-mail to communicate with patients on clinical issues, they should be careful about not getting into convoluted back and forth discussions. Anything that can’t be dealt with in short order likely warrants an office visit. A relatively new patient or an established patient inquiring about a new problem may not be a candidate for receiving advice via e-mail. When in doubt, have the patient come in.

Patient education will be needed when you begin using electronic communication, and you’ll want policies in place related to turnaround time (is the standard that you’ll respond to patients within 24-48 hours, or longer?), and when patients should and should not use e-mail to communicate with your office (e.g., yes for a prescription refill or to change an appointment, no in emergency situations or when they have a complex question or problem). One way to control the types of inquiries you receive from patients is to allow e-mail only through your practice Web site, and use check boxes for what is acceptable (refill, appointment, billing, etc.). Indicate that anything other than what’s listed requires a phone call.

Used with care, e-mail can be a wonderful, time-saving tool that benefits both patients and your practice. Think it through carefully before proceeding.

Today, since so many of our activities are technology dependent and life moves so quickly, when you deliver highly personalized service, it will get noticed. Here are some do’s and don’ts that will help you give patients a “wow” experience.

DO have a real person answer every phone call. Yes, an automated system saves staff time, and in large practices it may be necessary to use one. But, if at all possible, have your phones answered by courteous, helpful, competent employees who genuinely care about the needs of your patients.

DON’T let more than a couple of hours go by before returning patient phone calls. If doctors or back office staff use voice mail to receive patient messages, either they or a designated staff person should check those messages and return calls promptly, even if it’s only to say, “We’re waiting for the answer to your question, and we’ll get back to you soon.”

DO make it easy for patients to see and communicate with doctors. All too often, patients get the impression that staff members are somehow “protecting” providers from their own patients. Keep openings in the schedule for urgent appointments and phone consultations, and be flexible on the definition of “urgent,” which can sometimes mean accommodating a patient who is not seriously ill, but rather anxious or fearful and in need of reassurance.

DON’T make patients wait. This is the #1 complaint that patients have about doctors’ offices. If anyone is made to wait more than 10 minutes in the reception area or 5 minutes once they are in an exam room, offer an explanation. Sometimes delays are unavoidable, and a little communication goes a long way toward making patients understand that you realize their time is valuable.

DO stay in touch with patients throughout the year, whether you see them frequently or only occasionally. Sending out an e-mail or printed newsletter, birthday and holiday cards, or invitations to events sponsored by your office or the local hospital keeps your practice name in front of your valuable patients.

DON’T make patients wrong. If someone is late for an appointment (unless it’s habitual) or less than polite (perhaps because they feel terrible), resist the urge to reprimand or otherwise respond negatively. Demonstrating empathy and compassion pays off in the long run.

DO acknowledge referrals. A short, handwritten note from the doctor when a patient refers a friend or family member takes only a few minutes, costs less than $1, and absolutely elicits a “wow” reaction from patients.

• Instead of a Christmas card, send one at Thanksgiving or for the New Year. A Thanksgiving card conveys that you’re grateful for the opportunity to serve your patients, while a New Year’s message expresses hope and optimism for the future. Choosing to send your greeting before or after Christmas not only helps you stand out during the holiday rush, but makes the whole “Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays” debate a non-issue.

• If your staff is small enough, have everyone in the office sign the cards you mail out. If one employee or doctor has a special relationship with a patient and can add a short, personal note such as, “Hope you’re enjoying your new grandbaby!” then all the better.

• Be extremely careful not to accidentally send a card to the home of a patient who is deceased. Check and double-check your mailing list.

• Hand address the cards you send out. Yes, this takes time (hire a high school student with good penmanship if needed), but this added personal touch is tasteful and will help ensure that your envelope gets opened.

• A pocket-sized, hanging, or magnetic calendar is a thoughtful item to give to patients as one year turns to the next. Send one out to every patient who visited your office this year and last or, to save on postage, order your calendars now and slip them into billing statements during November and December. Leave extras on the reception counter for patients to pick up throughout January and February.

Before you know it, you’ll be seeing Halloween candy in all the stores and smelling the Thanksgiving turkey roasting in the oven. Decide now what you want to do to stay in touch with patients this coming holiday season. Planning ahead will help make your holidays less stressful and more enjoyable.

1. Offer patient education. Start a monthly or quarterly lecture series on topics that appeal to your target market. This need not be an elaborate, costly endeavor. To gather a small crowd, print announcements about upcoming events on patient statements, do a postcard mailing, put a notice in the community calendar section of your local paper, and perhaps take out a small ad. This should be sufficient to attract enough people to fill your waiting room (the least expensive location to hold your lecture). For more information on this marketing technique, see the recent post on this blog titled Offering Educational Seminars to Attract New Patients.

2. Write for your local paper. Especially if you live in a smallish community, your local newspaper may welcome a well-written monthly column featuring timely health information for patients. Write a sample column, send it to the paper’s editor, and follow up with a phone call or meeting to offer your services. Be sure to keep your articles strictly informational (i.e., no overt practice promotion).

3. Use postcards. Keeping your existing patients coming back year after year is the most cost-effective marketing tool you have. Use a postcard recall system to remind patients about annual and other follow-up visits. When you have a new service to offer, postcards are an inexpensive way to get the word out to your entire patient base.

4. Run a first-rate operation. Paying attention to detail and running an efficient, patient-oriented practice increases referrals and positive word-of-mouth. Keep these basics in mind; they are essential pieces in your marketing plan:

o Be accessible.
o Provide superior clinical care.
o Don’t rush.
o Go the extra mile with personalized service.
o Do what you say you’ll do (i.e., return phone calls in a timely manner).
o Have pleasant, well-trained, patient-focused staff.
o Keep your office clean.

Promoting your practice does not need to be expensive or overly time-consuming, but in today’s competitive environment, it’s essential. If you don’t have a plan in place to engage in regular marketing activities, make this the first agenda item for your next staff meeting.