Best Free and Low Cost Ways to Promote Your Medical Practice Written by Jeff Tormey on February 25, 2021. Posted in Connect. Marketing your medical practice is one of the most important things you can do to help grow your patient volumes. By increasing your visibility online, you’re able to be found by those looking for you, be seen by those who are interested, and be known by those who wish to tell their loved ones. No matter which of the types of medicine practices you run, your practice will benefit from medical marketing. Unfortunately, simply buying ads and hoping for the best can be a very expensive strategy. In this article, you’ll learn about the best low-cost ways to grow your practice using these medical marketing strategies. 6 Low Cost Ways To Promote Your Medical Practice Google My Business Google My Business is a free service provided by Google that allows you to put your business’s info on the search engine, even if you don’t yet have a website. This allows you to be found on Google Maps and is one of the ways Google identifies which businesses are where. To set up Google My Business, simply go to this link and follow the instructions. You’ll need to verify your business’s information. We recommend checking out this guide to Google My Business optimization. Interact On Social Media Everyone knows that having a social media presence is important, but it’s not just about making content and posting it. You also want to be interacting regularly with your community. Not only should you be growing your following with content, using your social media profiles to comment on and share content created by people in the community is a great way to make your brand known. Email Marketing Even in this age of Whatsapp and instant messaging, email is still a powerful primary mode of communication for people. By using emails to let people know about events, initiatives, and appointment reminders, you can make sure that your patients always keep you at top of mind. Be careful with your marketing communications, though. You’ll still have to remain HIPAA compliant and there’s certain data that you simply cannot use for marketing purposes. Search Engine Optimization Search engine optimization is the process of making your website easy to find on search engines. Investing in a SEO company can seem expensive, although it doesn’t need to be. You could also have an in-house marketing specialist do your SEO, however if they’re not already well-versed in SEO it will take longer to get results. Local Events and Organizations By being a part of your local chamber of commerce or board of trade, and by actively participating in those events, you can get your practice’s brand out there and be an effective face for the brand while you do. You can also sponsor some events. Although this can be expensive, sponsoring smaller events can be a low-cost way to effectively market your practice. Offer Excellent Service & Ask For Reviews Your online reputation is a key part of your digital marketing efforts. By offering an excellent patient experience, people will be more likely to give you a glowing review online. However, most people will not review a place without a reason, and usually, that reason is a negative one. So it’s up to you and your staff to be upfront with asking for reviews. Do so in your email communications and make it part of your normal processes. Sequence Health provides patient engagement solutions, including healthcare digital marketing, EMR integration, and more.
Creative Marketing Ideas for Healthcare Organizations in 2021 Written by Jeff Tormey on February 23, 2021. Posted in Connect. Medical marketing strategies vary widely, from using SEO and content marketing to traditional TV and newspaper advertising. Despite this, the game is always the same. The goal of successful medical marketing is to help others see your practice or hospital’s brand in a good light, while also reaching those who may be in need of your services so that they will choose you over the competition. So what kind of creative marketing ideas can you use for your healthcare practice in 2021? Here are a few that you can try. Creative Medical Marketing Ideas Host a virtual community event. The COVID pandemic is still upon us and many places continue to be locked down. Community events have slowed down considerably, but the community is still there. Why not host a virtual community event to spread the word about your hospital or practice? Virtual community events can be focused on health education, such as an information session about how to exercise and eat healthy during the pandemic, or about risk factors associated with COVID-19. This way, you can continue to play a role in your community even when community events aren’t going on. Start and grow a TikTok account. TikTok has grown dramatically in recent years and people of all ages are on it. By starting and growing a TikTok account, you can get in front of all types of people and get the word out about your practice. One benefit of having a TikTok account is that you can create content either for people in your local area, or for people around the world. Whatever you want to focus on, you can. One tip for TikTok: take advantage of trending hashtags. This isn’t too different from other social media, but trends aren’t just about hashtags: they’re about the content itself. By including trending songs or topics, you can take advantage of traffic that’s already there. Showcase your latest technology on YouTube. People love novelty, and showing off the kinds of technology that your practice uses can be a great way to generate interest on YouTube (and even TikTok and other platforms). Show off your new robotic surgery capability. Make videos showing how your robotic vacuums and mops clean the halls of the hospital. Take a video of your latest medical devices. The novelty will be both an attraction and a marketing strategy: your practice is on the cutting edge of medical technology and your videos can show it. Sequence Health is a provider of patient engagement solutions for practices of all sizes. They provide medical online marketing services and strategy for healthcare businesses.
Hospital Marketing Strategies For 2021 Written by Jeff Tormey on February 19, 2021. Posted in Connect. Hospital marketing strategies have changed a great deal since the start of the digital age. In the past, the focus was on traditional media and strong referral partnerships. Although referral partnerships are still extremely important, digital media has overtaken traditional media as the most important marketing consideration for businesses. We now live in a world marred by the COVID-19 pandemic and our reliance on our digital presence has become much greater. So what kind of hospital marketing strategies and ideas work well in 2021? Let’s dive into what medical marketing strategies still work. Digital Marketing Strategy & Ideas For Hospitals That Work in 2021 Healthcare SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Search engine optimization is nowhere near dead yet, despite what some “experts” will have you believe. After all, we all use search engines to help us find what we’re looking for. What these “experts” mean is that SEO has become much more competitive in recent years. You can break the mold by creating high-quality content, making sure your website is well optimized, and by making connections with other websites that will include links back to your website. Read more : How to Do Healthcare and Medical SEO? Content Marketing With An Emphasis On Video Content is king on the Internet, and it’s very likely that due to the pandemic, people are consuming online content more than ever. Use this to your advantage! Put out articles regularly and make sure they’re shared on social media. Video content, however, is where your practice can stand out from the rest. By creating informative and enjoyable content for the Internet, you can position yourself as an authority while also helping your online presence grow. Read more : Crafting the Ultimate Guide To Creating Healthcare Video Content: Four Key Considerations Online Reputation Management Your online reputation is such an important part of your online presence because it’s been shown that customers trust reviews. The general assumption is that online reviews are more trustworthy than marketing material, and because of this, prospective patients will use reviews to decide whether or not they want to work with you. To manage your online reputation, you’ll need to see what people are saying about you. What you’ll also need to do is ask your patients for reviews as a normal part of your processes. By doing this, you can get honest feedback from your patients that can then be used to help other prospects decide whether or not they should trust your practice. Data-Driven Decision Making There are a lot of different strategies and tactics you can use to help grow your practice. However, not all of them will work equally well. It’s important to make sure that you’re collecting the necessary data in order to make better marketing decisions. Collecting data on web traffic, traffic sources, search rankings, appointment scheduling rates, and appointment show rates will help you understand where your customers are coming from and what behaviors and actions they’re taking on your website. Use this data to decide where your marketing dollars will go for next year. Sequence Health provides patient engagement solutions, as well as healthcare marketing solutions such as healthcare advertising and healthcare SEO.
How To Come Up With A Bariatric Marketing Strategy & Grow Your Practice Written by Jeff Tormey on February 17, 2021. Posted in Convert. If you run a bariatric surgery clinic, you may be wondering how you can grow your marketing efforts to reach more potential surgery prospects. Although bariatric surgery is becoming more popular as more people learn about its benefits, getting yourself in front of those people requires an understanding of how to market your practice online. In this article, you will learn about different ways you can grow your bariatric clinic using these tips for bariatric marketing strategy. Tips for Bariatric Marketing Strategy Be where your prospects are. Many people are searching for information about bariatric surgery on Google and other search engines. If you can’t easily be found on Google or Bing, then you are missing out on a lot of potential patients! Not only that, but your prospects also spend a lot of time on social media, often looking at potential weight loss methods. Using SEO for bariatric clinics can help your practice become more visible on the search engines. PPC for bariatric clinics is a great way to show your offer directly to those who are ready to schedule a consultation. Social media marketing can help you grow your brand. By being where your prospects are, you are more likely to be seen by the people who would benefit from bariatric surgery. Educate your prospects. Bariatric surgery is the most effective way for obese patients to lose weight and keep it off. Despite this, only about 1% of eligible prospects actually go through with surgery. There are plenty of reasons for this, but it’s often due to what they don’t know. For example, many people aren’t aware that bariatric surgery is covered by most insurance plans. You can educate them on how insurance can help pay for their surgery. Learn more about insurance verification services companies! So how do you educate your prospects? You need the content. Creating articles and videos on important bariatric surgery topics is a great way for you to grow your content base, position your practice as an authority in the space, and educate prospects to get them more comfortable with the commitment of bariatric surgery. Ask for reviews from patients. Most bariatric surgery clinics live and die by their before and after photos. While these are powerful tools to convince people to schedule a consultation, they’re not going to be sufficient because nearly every bariatric clinic has these! In addition to getting before and afters, you want to ask your patients to leave reviews on sites such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook. These reviews are highly trusted and bariatric surgery is a big commitment. People don’t just wanna see how much weight they can lose, they want to know how compassionate the surgeons are and how much support they get during their journey. By asking for reviews from your patients, you can show the world what sets your practice apart from the others. Sequence Health offers patient engagement solutions and medical online marketing services for medical practices, hospitals, and healthcare businesses of all types.
How To Get More Patients To Your Practice Without Burning Money Written by Jeff Tormey on February 14, 2021. Posted in Convert. Getting patients to come to your practice is a key aspect of running one. After all, medical practices are still businesses and in order to stay afloat, they need to maintain sufficient patient volumes. As a result, medical marketing strategies are super important for any practice, regardless of specialty or general practice of medicine. Of course, healthcare advertising can be expensive and not all practices have room in their budget to grow their ad spend. In this article, you will learn about how you can get more patients to your practice without breaking the bank. Tips For Attracting More Patients On a Budget Understand Your Patient Base There are several things you need to understand about your patients before you’re able to effectively grow. The first is to understand the areas in which you’re lacking. Patient satisfaction surveys can help you uncover your practice’s weak points. Another thing you need to understand is the demography of your patient base. Answer the following questions: How old are they on average? what races and ethnicities are present what languages are spoken how far does a patient have to travel to reach your office How educated are they? What’s the average and median income? Build Relationships With Referring Practices Most practices get patients through referrals, and these referrals come from building good relationships with primary care providers and other non-specialists. Some tips on building good relationships with referring practices: Make sure referred patients have a wonderful experience. Patients see their primary care provider relatively often and have a relationship with them, and their word will be taken seriously by the physician. Create a direct line of contact between your practice and practices that refer patients to you. This makes it easier to share information. Let the referring practice know of treatment and other notes promptly after the treatment has been provided. Make Your Online Presence Strong A strong online presence is absolutely paramount in the digital age. It’s not as simple as just having a website and some social media accounts. A strong online presence means that patients are able to find you, online communities know about you, and your website is easy to use by anyone no matter what device they use. Investing in healthcare SEO is one of the best ways to build a strong web presence. Doing so usually involves working with a healthcare SEO company, but it also means creating content for people to read or watch online. You also want to make sure that your practice is actively participating on social media. By having a staff member regularly interact on social media on behalf of the practice, your practice will be seen by more people in the community. Grow Your Reach In The Community In addition to a strong social media presence, you also want to make a concerted effort to be a part of the community that you serve. Many physicians are not native to the community they work in and have not had the opportunity to become well known there. One important part of growing your reach in the community is to be a part of community-held events. A good way to do this is to sponsor and attend events held by groups such as the chamber of commerce or community service groups. All in all, growing your practice does not have to be expensive or complicated. By being there for your patients and providing an excellent experience while also making it easy for them to find you, you can see sustained patient growth over time.
How To Use Healthcare Call Centers To Provide A Better Patient Experience Written by Jeff Tormey on February 10, 2021. Posted in Connect. Healthcare call centers have been used for decades by practices in order to save on staffing costs and improve efficiency. Unfortunately, hospital call centers haven’t always been the best at handling patient needs. A healthcare management consulting firm found that when 20 hospital call centers were called, 90% of them were completely unhelpful. These call centers serve an important purpose, as they help triage calls to the right department or provider and can also help with insurance verification, billing, and collections. But should hospital call center investment be cut, or is there a better way to use them? Let’s find out. Improving Patient Experience with Call Centers Train your call centers to be compassionate with callers. Some healthcare call centers may insist that their staff needs minimal training, however in order to get the results you want, you’ll need to use your understanding of your patients to help them serve your patients right. When patients call about a medical matter, they’re in a vulnerable position and need to be treated with basic human dignity and compassion. Call centers aren’t exactly known for this, and although the reasons for this are complex, staff can be trained to provide a compassionate experience for patients who call your phone. In your call center training, whether you use a manual or not, you need to make sure that callers are treated with respect and compassion. Otherwise, you risk ruining the chance of getting a patient before they’ve even set foot in your hospital or practice. Simplify and unify your processes. This seems more like a technical or business consideration, but overly complex processes can bleed into the patient experience and cause serious problems down the line. If you’re using multiple call centers to handle the load, then you want to make sure that all software suites used are compatible with each other and that a patient’s data can be accessed the same way no matter which call center they were directed to. Several healthcare companies have formed as a result of mergers and acquisitions, and this can cause unneeded complexity that would otherwise not exist. Making sure that all processes are streamlined throughout the organization will make the patient’s experience much smoother as it can cut down on wait times and reduce the risk of errors. Invest in multi-channel communications. Although the call center is still the backbone of patient-hospital communications, it doesn’t mean that patients are always able to call. A Harris Poll found that 64% of consumers would choose texting instead of voice for customer service. By investing in multi-channel communications, you’re able to connect with patients in the way that they prefer. You also give them the ability to connect with you any time they want. Use a call center that is willing and able to connect with patients through multiple channels. Sequence Health provides multi-channel patient engagement solutions such as transitional care management turnkey services, medical patient portals, and healthcare call center services in order to improve both patient experience and your bottom line.
How To Verify Medical Insurance Coverage: Medical Insurance Verification Guide Written by Jeff Tormey on February 7, 2021. Posted in Connect. The medical insurance verification process is one that is well-known to be annoying at best and disastrous at worst. A simple clerical error or missed question can lead to a patient’s coverage being denied. It’s paramount that you get the right information from the patient in order to prevent denials and to maximize reimbursements. In this article, you’ll learn how to verify medical insurance in a few easy steps while minimizing the risk of missing crucial information. Steps on How To Do Insurance Verification Make sure your patient’s information is up to date. Without up-to-date information, insurance may deny coverage. The best way to make sure information is up to date is to verify a patient’s information with the patient before they come in. The important information you need is: Full name Date of birth The name of the primary insured Name of the insurance provider Insurance provider’s contact information Insurance ID Group number There are a lot of reasons why this information may change. A patient may switch employers, get married or divorced, have a child, or switch insurance for any other reason. Also, make sure to request an up-to-date photo ID and the original insurance card. Make a scanned copy or a printed copy and keep it on file. Contact the insurance company. It’s recommended to contact the insurance company at least 72 hours before the patient comes to your office. This will reduce the risk of being denied and will allow you to have the information you need. You should have gotten the payer’s contact info from the patient. If you were unable to do so, you can find this information online on the payer’s website. Get the necessary benefits information from the insurance company. Verifying insurance can be like a game of telephone. For this reason, you’re going to want to clarify benefits information with the insurance company directly. You’ll want to get the following information: Confirm the basic information. Patient’s name, policy and group number, the name of the primary, and the relationship of the primary to the patient Whether the patient is covered on the date of service Whether your practice is in or out of network. If you’re out of network, then ask which services are covered. Copay and/or coinsurance information Patient’s deductible Coverage limitations There could be more information that is necessary to process the claim. Be sure to keep good records of everything in order to help the process go smoothly. If a patient has secondary insurance, then you’ll have to go through these steps with that insurance as well and you’ll also have to confirm how much will be covered by the secondary provider. Get verification of co-pay and answer questions that the patient may have. You’ll need to collect a patient’s due co-pay and make sure that they get a receipt. A patient will need this information to verify their own health insurance. Also, answer any questions that the patient has about their insurance, as it pertains to your services. This will make sure that the patient understands what they will need to pay and what insurance will cover. Read more: What Is Insurance Verification and Eligibility? Sequence Health offers patient engagement solutions for medical practices of all sizes. Sequence Health is also a provider of medical online marketing services to help increase your patient volumes and grow your brand’s presence.
Qualities of a Successful Medical Information Call Center Agent Written by Jeff Tormey on February 3, 2021. Posted in Manage. When a patient calls a hospital, they’re usually directed to a call center whose job is to triage them to the right department and get them the information they need so that they’re satisfied enough to end the conversation. Call centers are used for appointment scheduling, providing information about the hospital, insurance matters, and more. Now, think about it from a patient’s point of view. They’re in a vulnerable place and they’re doing something that they’d rather not do, whether that’s scheduling an appointment or trying to figure out when they can see their sick relative. You want someone with the right qualities to answer the phone and provide the support that the patient needs. So what qualities does a successful medical call center agent have? Qualities That A Medical Call Center Agent Should Have The ability to communicate with compassion. When someone calls a hospital call center, they’re not exactly in the best frame of mind. They might be short with an agent, or they might express sadness and frustration with their situation. Someone who wants to see their sick relative is not looking to waste a lot of time on the phone and might be feeling overwhelmed. A successful medical call center agent is compassionate and shows it through their tone of voice and their choice of words. An agent should show that they understand what the person on the other line is going through and that they’re not alone, and that the agent is there to help. A willingness and ability to handle pressure. Medical call center jobs are not easy, and some situations can literally be life or death. Having the ability to work under pressure is key for a call center agent because of the stakes. This might be something you want to filter out during the hiring process, but training for high-pressure situations is also recommended. A thorough understanding of your hospital’s or practice’s offerings. Nobody wants to be directed to someone on the phone that doesn’t know what they’re talking about. By training a call center agent on what your hospital or practice does, they will be able to sound more knowledgeable over the phone and they’ll be in a better position to represent your brand in the most positive light. Attention to detail As stated earlier, these jobs are pretty high stakes and one crucial missed detail could be a problem for things like insurance and relaying important information about an appointment. A good call center agent should have a high level of attention to detail and they must be able to juggle multiple things while keeping those details straight. Ability to retain and recall important information This can’t be understated, because call center agents are bombarded with information that they might not be able to record right then and there. Remembering key information for when someone gets on the line next time will be the difference between providing poor service and excellent service. Encourage agents to utilize their resources and keep good notes so that they can use their recall abilities on the most important info. Sequence Health is a top provider of patient engagement solutions for healthcare businesses of all sizes.
How to Fine Tune Your Marketing for Healthcare Businesses in 2021 Written by Jeff Tormey on February 1, 2021. Posted in Convert. Marketing for healthcare businesses is not quite the same as marketing for other businesses. There are different considerations, such as HIPAA compliance, and marketing healthcare services requires slightly different tactics than marketing a store or a professional service. But marketing is still important for medical practices and other healthcare businesses, and there are things you’ll need to do in order to fine-tune your medical marketing strategies. 4 Steps to Optimizing Your Medical Marketing Strategies Use past data to figure out what works. If your business is brand new, you won’t have access to historical internal data. But, if your business has been operating, you can use what you’ve done to help figure out where your marketing dollars should go in the future. Answer the following questions: What marketing strategies did we invest in last year? Did we see growth in the following KPIs: Patient volumes Patient values Overall revenue Overall profit What strategies worked the best, based on the data we have? If you don’t have data, or your business is brand new, your priority should be to make sure that you are able to collect that data this year. Companies like Sequence Health can help you collect and analyze patient engagement data in a HIPAA-compliant way. Brainstorm new ideas. At this stage, what you want to do is figure out what new marketing strategies could be used to generate new patient leads. Healthcare advertising, medical SEO, social media marketing, traditional marketing strategies such as radio or news… there’s a lot that can be done! But not all of these ideas will be equally viable. Take insights from people in your company who work patient-facing roles and who are intimately familiar with the initial stages of patient onboarding. You’ll also want to use the insights from people who work with the website, the social media, and anything else related to your practice’s online presence. Assess the ideas and come up with a strategy for each viable one. Not all ideas will be right for this year. You will have likely settled on a few strategies that are viable for your practice. Not only that, but you’ll also have the original strategies that you’ve been using that have worked thus far. Now, it’s time to come up with a strategy and an action plan for these initiatives. You’ll want to come up with the following: Tasks required Team members & their responsibilities Timeframe Costs involved Ideal outcomes Set SMART goals for these strategies. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. The goals you choose should be based on KPIs that directly contribute to the bottom line. Of course, not all strategies will work in the end. You will want to assess the results at the end of your chosen timeframe and decide whether or not it’s worth pursuing in the future.
Medical Content Marketing: How Content Marketing in Healthcare Works Written by Jeff Tormey on January 31, 2021. Posted in Connect. Blogging and video creation are two of the most popular ways that healthcare practices make content. This content isn’t for nothing, though: these practices are engaging in content marketing, and as a strategy, content marketing in healthcare has been shown to work. In fact, content marketing companies do a lot of marketing to doctors offices because it’s such a powerful strategy. So how can you take advantage of the power of content marketing? How does content marketing fit into a medical online marketing strategy? What Is Content Marketing? Content marketing is a strategy that relies on creating and distributing highly valuable content on a consistent basis in order to build a loyal audience of people who are relevant to the business. It can be done through blog posts, video, infographics, and more. The idea behind content marketing is that you give away value for free in order to do several things. First, you’re getting your name out there by connecting your practice’s brand to valuable content. Second, you’re becoming a trusted authority, allowing your readers to see you as someone who should be trusted with their healthcare. Third, you’re helping to engage the patients you already have by producing content that they could benefit from. How Do You Get Traffic to Your Content? Content marketing is only as good as its reach, and there are many ways that marketers aim to build up their website traffic. The first and most common way is through search engine optimization, or medical SEO. You can check out another article on Benefits of Medical SEO. Another common way is to post content on social media and content sharing platforms. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are great ways to build up traffic to your content. You can also use content sharing platforms such as Reddit, or Youtube for healthcare video content. Some healthcare advertising companies use content marketing as a way to get a lot of eyeballs to your website, however this requires paying for advertising that could be better utilized by advertising your services directly to people who have shown interest, such as through search advertising. Should I Invest In Content Marketing? The answer is yes, however there are some things you should consider. First, content marketing requires content creation. Blog posts require time and energy, or the funds to pay a blog writer. Videos are even more expensive and time-consuming to produce. You’ll want to understand the cost of creating content before you commit to a content marketing strategy. There are content marketing companies that can help you produce content, but before you choose one, you’ll need to understand what kind of content they’ll produce for you. Not only that, you’ll want to see the quality of this content to gauge whether you’re willing to put your brand name on that content. Sequence Health provides patient engagement solutions, including content creation and medical content marketing services. Learn more about what Sequence Health can do for your practice!