Common Medical SEO Mistakes Written by Jeff Tormey on April 18, 2021. Posted in Connect. If you have implemented a medical SEO strategy and you can see the tumbleweed blowing across your desert of a website, something is wrong. There is a mistake in the strategy if it doesn’t lead to an increase in web traffic or appointment volume. At best medical SEO mistakes are a waste of your marketing budget. At worst, they can damage the ranking of your website. SEO is a fast-evolving field since algorithms and ranking rules are constantly changing. An SEO consultant who hasn’t specialized will apply generic techniques to the detriment of your practice’s online ranking. What are the common medical SEO mistakes? Choosing the Wrong Keywords Keywords are the access points to your content. They tell the algorithm that the search query typed into the search box by your prospective patients will be answered by your content. If you optimize for keywords that no one is using then you’re basically shouting into the void. Competing for Highly-Competitive Keywords The war of popular keywords comes down to who has the bigger budget. Bigger organizations with deeper pockets will outbid your growing practice for these competitive search terms. You will fail to rank on the first page and your efforts will be in vain. To fix this mistake, medical SEO strategies should instead focus on keywords that are low-competition and extremely focused, down to the practice and treatment. Poor Targeting 46% of Google searches are looking for local information. SEO is less about manoeuvering the algorithm to rank your site on the first page and more about making your content visible to the right user. Google Adwords has tools to help you research relevant keywords to your practice and to discover what search phrases your prospective clients are using. It would be useless to rank on the first page for a keyword that has little to do with your practice or a location far away. Ignoring Long-Tail Keywords Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases with multiple words that target users more effectively. Long-tail keywords will often include key additional information such as city, regions, and specialties. It’s the difference between optimizing your website for the keyword “Doctor in New York” versus “ENT specialist in Queens”. The former is too general whereas the latter is localized and specific and will get more hits. Failure to Note Progress Medical online marketing has no cut and dried formula. It has to be tweaked based on the specific data collected through multiple runs of keyword research and testing. Data and its proper analysis determine the success of marketing strategies. Tools such as Google Analytics should be used to gauge the impact of content, how the users are responding to your content, and their pain points. Marketers then go back to the drawing board to implement these insights in creating more effective strategies. Failure to track the progress of SEO strategies is pouring your budget down the drain. Experienced medical SEO consultants understand the specific challenges of marketing healthcare services, They have also perfected the right balance between high search volume and low competition. They will help you rank better and reach your target user. For such expert SEO solutions, get in touch with Guideway Care today.
3 Major Challenges Facing the Healthcare Industry in 2021 & Their Solutions Written by Jeff Tormey on April 13, 2021. Posted in Connect, Other. 2020 was a difficult year for all sectors and probably most of all the healthcare industry. Many healthcare providers saw their financial plans decimated. Virtual care rocketed and patient behaviors went through a drastic change. Some of these challenges will carry into 2021 and the solutions for healthcare will mostly focus on finding a new normal. Adjustments in Telehealth Delivery In 2020 the pandemic led to a rise in virtual healthcare. Providers had to meet patients where they were. There were mixed results due to the varying degree of telehealth experience among caregivers. This did not hinder the 50% boom in telehealth which grew from an alternative to a primary healthcare delivery method. However, telehealth is not a one-size-fits-all, and therein lies the challenge. Certain medical specialties like mental health and obstetrics benefit from virtual delivery while others don’t. Senior patients with Alzheimer’s or dementia require face-to-face sessions. Additionally, the lack of personal interaction in some telehealth models led to a subpar experience for the patient. Key Insights In 2021, healthcare providers will be looking beyond providing basic telehealth. They will need integrated solutions that create a care pathway for virtual patient visits to run smoothly across departments. Industry providers will need to determine which specialties most benefit from virtual visits and which ones don’t. Better customer experience and fewer dropped handoffs facilitated by care coordinators will be crucial targets. Payers will also have to iron out which telehealth services to reimburse and how virtual care fits within the larger healthcare ecosystem. Building Digital Solutions To Ease Physician Load Apart from the patient load, physicians’ workload is choked with detailed administrative tasks and the challenge of inadequate electronic health records systems (EHRs). Never-ending drop-down menus and regulatory reporting requirements impair physician’s efficiency and make it harder for them to provide a good experience for their patients. Key Insights In 2021, payers will need to invest more in enhanced portals to automate patient handoffs between systems as well as having access to different claims without manual intervention. Nearly, 91% of executives in healthcare and life science businesses plan to prioritize clinician experience in 2021. This will entail investing in healthcare digital marketing technologies to devise targeted outreach strategies for physician liaisons. They will in turn create demand and make the physician referral process better. These marketing solutions will be integrated with scheduling and patient outreach platforms to reduce cancellations and improve the clinician experience. A Resilient and Responsive Supply Chain Long-Term One of the biggest problems in healthcare arising in 2020 and rolling over into 2021 was the realization that supply chains had become rigid and were built on outdated frameworks. The medical supply chain needs to be more nimble, transparent and diversified. Key Insights Healthcare industry stakeholders will need to triangulate supply chain risks and increase transparency with their suppliers’ suppliers to avert shortfalls and supply interruptions. They will need to secure the supply chain with manifold measures such as 1 Onshoring manufacturing 2 Consolidating data across the network to improve supply chain visibility and capacity 3 Dual sourcing strategies 4 Diversifying geographies and material sourcing The above are only 3 of the biggest challenges facing healthcare in 2021. Providers will need a multi-pronged approach to these healthcare issues. A combination of robust strategies, intuitive technologies, and key partnerships with patient engagement services providers and healthcare advertising companies will help them improve patient uptake and delivery of services.
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. Guideway Care 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. Guideway Care 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. Guideway Care provides patient engagement solutions, as well as healthcare marketing solutions such as healthcare advertising and healthcare SEO.
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. Guideway Care 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? Guideway Care offers patient engagement solutions for medical practices of all sizes. Guideway Care is also a provider of medical online marketing services to help increase your patient volumes and grow your brand’s presence.
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. Guideway Care provides patient engagement solutions, including content creation and medical content marketing services. Learn more about what Guideway Care can do for your practice!
Patient Pre-Registration Tips for a Better Experience Written by Jeff Tormey on January 8, 2021. Posted in Connect. Check-in processes are notorious for consuming staff resources and making patients wait longer than they have to before they receive care. One excellent strategy for improving your check-in process is to implement patient pre-registration. How should patient pre-registration be handled? Does your practice need to improve its patient registration system? Let’s discuss. Why Most Practices’ Patient Registration Process Is So Awful Patient registration is a nightmare. There are so many data points that need to be collected, such as demographic information, contact information, appointment scheduling information, health history, and what kind of health insurance coverage the patient has. All of this is absolutely necessary to make sure the hospital is able to get reimbursed by insurance. Not only that, much of this information needs to be collected and saved into a practice’s CRM; in the healthcare industry, CRMs are vital to maximizing revenue. Because of all the information that needs to be collected, having a patient register in the hospital can take a very long time and turn into a very painful process for both the patient and hospital staff. The Solution: Patient Pre-Registration Patient pre-registration is when part or all of the registration process is performed before the visit. This method allows the patient to fill out the necessary information on their own time. Patient pre-registration can save a great deal of time for staff and patients. The process typically starts one of several ways: Over the phone. The registration process is conducted by a new patient coordinator and starts before the visit. Via mail. The practice sends forms to the patient via mail and expects them to mail back a completed form or submit it on the day of the visit. Through the patient portal. The patient signs into their patient portal and completes pre-registration there. Using online forms, either downloaded or on the Web. Similar to the mail, the patient fills out the form and submits it online. In order to get the benefits out of patient pre-registration, it’s recommended that healthcare providers follow these tips: Use electronic forms if possible. Electronic forms can integrate with your CRM, stay HIPAA compliant, collect e-signatures, and ideally can be done from a patient’s phone. Train staff correctly. New patient coordinators need to be able to enter patient information into the Healthcare CRM directly, guide patients through pre-registration, answer any questions that the patient has, and schedule the patient in correctly using the information provided. Automate as much of the process as possible. Patients should receive automatic reminders to pre-register. Staff should not have to spend time scanning pre-registration forms to input them into another system later.
Impact of Social Media on Healthcare Businesses Written by Jeff Tormey on December 17, 2020. Posted in Connect. When social media first came to the scene in the early 2000s, nobody expected that it would become a mainstay of our lives. But now that social media platforms are used by billions of people around the world, governments and businesses of all types have had to adapt. One of the major impacts that social media & healthcare digital marketing has had is on healthcare. People are now getting healthcare information faster than ever before. They’re also getting misinformation more than any time in our history. Our focus in this article is to detail the impact of social media on healthcare businesses and how healthcare business owners can take advantage of it while still staying within legal and ethical guidelines. Impact of Social Media on Healthcare The ease of sharing information. Thanks to social media, it’s easier than ever for people to access and share information about any topic, and healthcare is no different. Of course, this has its downsides. Because social media is a free space where anyone can say what they wish, there’s nothing stopping people from spreading or sharing misinformation about health. Those who own practices need to be careful about the content they share. Healthcare business owners are also encouraged to use their platform to refute misinformation that they see. A study published in 2017 shows that people’s comments influence how others interpret information and that commenting on misinformed opinions can be effective in changing people’s minds. The new connections that medical professionals can have with their audience. Medical professionals have started to take on authoritative positions, regardless of their research experience and published works, building a base of readers entirely through social media. Doctors and researchers can share their point of view with the world and connect with those who benefit from what they have to say. It’s become a lot easier for medical professionals to have a real relationship with their audience, taking in feedback as soon as it comes in, and sharing the stories of those they helped. The rise of patient influencers. Patients are taking to social media to detail their experiences dealing with their condition. Some people have spoken at length about receiving bariatric surgery or chiropractic treatment, whereas others talk about what it’s like to have a chronic condition with no cure. These patients, who are not medical professionals, share their stories and what worked for them. As a result, other patients listen to them and sometimes take their advice. This can be a good thing, but it can also be very dangerous. Patient influencers are not qualified to give medical advice but are free to share their stories. It’s important that healthcare entrepreneurs understand a little bit about where patients get their information while also ensuring that patients do not misconstrue a fellow patient’s narrative for medical advice.If you would like to learn more about how social media can be used in healthcare, contact Guideway Care Check out our post where we share 4 ways that patients use social media to chronicle their weight loss journey