7 Deadly Sins Keeping Your Practice in the Stone Age

Health care professionals can be stereotypically stuck in their ways, but are those habits and practices leading them down a path to extinction? Ask yourself the hard questions about where you stand and you are already taking your first steps towards evolution.

-       Not marketing your value to patients directly

• With a more significant weight being placed on practices’ and hospitals’ quality metrics, patients are paying more attention to the way health care providers treat their patients. Of course, patients experience a lot of emotions, so helping them see your true value can help them make more educated decisions about their care. Remember to think like them, not like yourself.

-       Not tracking the ROI of your advertisement efforts

Here is a funny little cave-dog. Just for fun.

• Avoid the spray, pay and pray methods a lot of health care institutions adopt when it comes to their advertising efforts. Internet marketing can be significantly more effective than plastering up a billboard, plus you are able to point to the effectiveness of your efforts.

-       Not helping to relieve referring physician work load with unique efforts

• The relationship your practice has with referring physician offices is a delicate thing that you must constantly be working to improve and foster. By assisting their practices in unique ways, helping them to save time and become more efficient is utterly invaluable to them. Think out of the box.

-       Not using pricing as a marketing component

• Patients are becoming more accustomed to shopping around for health care procedures, especially more expensive out-of-pocket services. Using your price to market to patients is helpful, even if you don’t have the lowest price in town. It is better to be a part of the conversation than be left out entirely.

-       Not showing differentiation between yourself and your competition

• It is okay to show patients what sets your practice apart when it comes to quality of service. Of course your mother told you, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, and we are not giving you license to bash your competition but a little differentiation never hurt anyone.

-       Passive approach to cancellations and no-shows

• Every practice suffers the frustrations that come along with last minute cancellations and no-shows. It leaves a hole in your schedule and keeps you from helping as many patients as you could have if you had a system for filling those empty time slots with a capacity exchange program.

-       Crossing your fingers and hoping transparency trends will end

• Bad news kids, this whole price transparency epidemic is not going anywhere so it’s time to jump on board. Like we said before, it is better to have a seat at the table than to be on the table. Your patients and referring offices will appreciate that you are taking steps towards transparency and innovation within the industry.

Where are you? Do you need help? Besides if this guy can do it, you can too.

Originally posted on Save On Medical’s Blog.

Metropolitan Ministries' Annual Bridge Builder's Breakfast

The smell of pastries and coffee filtered through the air at Metropolitan Ministries’ Annual Bridge Builder Breakfast yesterday while the essence of hope flourished. Bustling with some of Tampa’s most involved community members, this year we had plenty of reasons to celebrate. Metropolitan Ministries’ quote of the year has been, “Hope can grow anywhere,” which is brought to life in the Miracle Place, their newest addition to their efforts in solving problems even in the most hopeless of situations.

Miracle Place provides a place for 50 new families to live and is home to a new preschool, partnership school for children from kindergarten through fifth grade; new after-school programs and extended dining facilities. The Tampa community has worked hard to build Miracle Place and it will enable Metropolitan Ministries to double their efforts in helping families and individuals in need of assistance and a fresh start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbdGXPjFv4I

We have come a long way, but the road has not come to an end just yet. The building is built, but the rooms are all empty so Metropolitan Ministries is now turning to the community looking for donations to help furnish the rooms, making them feel like home to those that will live in them. With 50 new units to furnish and doubled operating costs, Metropolitan has a lot of work to do, so we called in the troops… or should we say, the Bucs?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano was kind enough to come speak at this year’s Bridge Builder’s Breakfast. He shared some insight on the sense of leadership he hopes to instill in his players and the franchise through their involvement with Metropolitan Ministries including; trust, believe, accountability and leadership. He also referenced a band he wears on his wrist that reads FAMILY, standing for Forget About Me I Love You. This is a mantra he has to remind himself of and teach to his team daily, but he said that is what Metropolitan Ministries does all day, everyday.  “Schiano’s level of passion as a volunteer and advocate for Metro is palpable, it is inspiring to see,” says Chris Christenberry, who serves on the organization’s Board of Directors.

The event was complete with success stories from some of Metropolitan Ministries clients coming to speak.  One man shared a story about the business he owned only a few short years ago until it crashed with the unlucky economy. His story was inspiring and humbling, reminding attendees that anyone can fall on hard times.

In the next year, we hope to see more of the community get involved with Metropolitan’s amazing efforts. The homelessness population grows in triple-digits each year in the Bay Area, which means that we have our work set out for us!

Chris Christenberry is Atlantic Health Solutions’ president and he serves on the Board of Directors at Metropolitan Ministries. Due to his involvement in the organization, Chris has lead Atlantic’s staff to appreciate the work and efforts of Metropolitan Ministries. It is our in-house philanthropy of sorts and we are proud to be such active volunteers.

Radiologist Archetypes & Mythbusters for Healthcare Marketers

Last week our team of experienced healthcare marketers sat down with Jayson A. Lord, MD to get an inside look at what makes radiologists tick.  Dr. Lord, who lives in Tampa, Florida and performs radiology for practices nationwide, discussed ways to understand radiologist motivators, tricks for how to get the good doctors involved with marketing and physician relations and spent time going through “Radiologist Mythbusters” which was a session where marketing representatives were able to state their radiologist assumptions in an open forum and discuss ways to overcome them.

One of the biggest questions Dr. Lord wanted to address was why radiologists often choose their profession. “Radiologists are typically very analytic thinkers, they love puzzles and problem solving. Radiology is the ultimate puzzle,” he said about his profession.  Getting to the root of why people choose certain paths in life intrigues Dr. Lord, and he drew from components of Jungian archetypes to explain physician motivators and the individuals who contribute to a practice’s success. The four quadrants of Jungian archetypes, which most people fall into, are The King, The Warrior, The Magician and The Joker.  As a King; individuals are filled with confidence and authority which can be a very good or very bad thing depending on the individual. The Warrior serves as a dutiful worker, while The Magician is able to utilize tricks and an engaging personality to “make things happen.”  The Joker is traditionally less motivated and looked at as the hopeless romantic of society. So which category does your radiologist fall into?

Lord says that most radiologists identify with the Warrior archetype. They want to show up to work, get through their stack of reads and move on with their systematic schedule.  Most radiologists that own their own independent practices, like Dr. Lord, fall into The King category, which can have both positive and negative influences on their work, but oftentimes responsibility rolls up the hill to the king, and most radiologists do not want to step out of their warrior roles to take on other responsibilities, leaving practices without a leader.

In order to get your radiologists more involved with marketing efforts, Dr. Lord says the key is finding your radiologist magician however. Traditionally introverted, radiologists love regiments and they need to be untrained from the clinical paradigm they’ve adopted in order to step outside of their comfort zone. In a group of radiologists, a magician can usually be found and if they are open to working with your marketing team, it can make all the difference in the world.

The key to getting started is setting up an opportunity for your radiologist to engage in a conversation with a referring physician where they will walk away feeling positive. After having a few encounters that go well, it will be less heartbreaking when they go on more challenging meetings.  It would be beneficial to set up a lunch with a clinical topic in mind to discuss for more introverted radiologists, but as long as the referring physician is engaging, a feeling of positivity can be fostered. We can compare this to someone learning to cook. If all you’ve ever made is grilled cheese, you would not delve into your first cooking adventure aiming to perfect soufflés or prepare a full Thanksgiving meal. You would start with the basics: baked chicken, some steamed veggies and pasta. The same can be said about easing radiologists into marketing efforts.

As healthcare marketing professionals, it is important to be able to read people, understand what their needs and motivators are, and to use that information to grow.  Figuring out what kind of radiologist you work with and finding your internal Magician could lead to exponential levels of success for your center.

Radiology's Future: Our Specialists

A recent survey performed by the American College of Radiology concluded that the job prospects for radiologists finishing their residencies have wavered over the past few years, but by 2014, the career playing field should be leveled.

Back in 2011, there were about 1,241 radiologists that were hired but only 1,103 in 2012.  Researchers project that in 2014, there should be back up to around 1, 227 positions.  Within the same study, researchers found that there is about one job per every radiologist that finishes their studies, but that job might not necessarily be in an ideal location or in their desired subspecialty.  The South, West, Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic states are the areas with the highest number of open radiologist positions, meaning that areas up North are practically impossible to find positions in after residencies are completed.

One positive thing about the millennial generation is that they are entering the work place with a stronger aptitude and openness towards change, allowing them the freedom to explore new regions for work and new frontiers of specialties.  Typically, graduates don’t mind relocating and are quick to adapt to their new surroundings.  Also, most of the graduates are open to going into a different field than they originally planned, which is something more seasoned radiologists would be more apprehensive about.  

The job market is progressively getting better each year for new radiology graduates, and it will continue to grow over the next few years, so it’s important for those specialists to stay on the radiology warpath if that is where their passions lead them. Industry changes may influence some, but we can still be confident in the future of our industry.

BONUS: Understanding Radiologists… in song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaGV3-INNk8

Emotions & Loyalty: Root of Patient & Physician Decisions in Health Care

People are people, whether they are identified by their career or their role in the health care process. So whether you’re dealing with a referring physician or a patient, it’s important to consider emotions, their role in the sales process and how they drive and destroy value.  One of the most valuable emotions to have in our business is loyalty. Loyalty is what providers work towards with referring physicians and what they’re trying to earn from their patients, and in a society where health care is catching a lot of heat for a lack of transparency, loyalty and honesty are key.

Lloyd Banks said, “I take things like honor and loyalty seriously. It’s more important to me than any materialistic thing or any fame I could have.” It’s funny because a lot of practices think that the best way to attract referrals is to give gifts and tip-toe through shades of gray, tickling the line of propriety and Stark Laws, whether they can afford it or not.  Matt Schneider says that when your relationships are built off of gifts however, you’re only as good as your next present. Don’t think about yourself and your service from a strictly monetary scope, consider your value, because it is more important than any materialistic thing you could provide, as long as you’re not handing out keys to new Ferraris.

In Colin Shaw’s program Beyond Philosophy, he points out that in sales, professionals brand their customer experiences with their own emotional signatures. Over 50% of a customer’s experience relies on how they feel, which will then either drive or destroy their decision path. With 20 emotions ranging from happy to trusted to disappointed to neglected; your perception of value hinges heavily on your customers’ emotions, indicating whether they will become long-term, short-term or no-term customers. In health care it is hard to look at patients as “customers” but their emotional drive is intrinsically the same.

 (See image here: http://pinterest.com/pin/177399672791761465/) 

It makes sense that in health care, more than in any other industry, emotional-selling plays a vastly important role. From a patient perspective, the health care industry is a confusing, money-hungry monster that is supposed to be able to fix the illusive medical issues they face before they die. They are operating in a state of flat out fear. Transparency in the system is a good start to helping patients sort through their emotions, aiding in their comprehension of what happens with their doctors and the bills that come out of their appointments. This is why it’s important for health care marketers and physicians to enter the conversation that patients are having already in their minds about price and quality.

The jump from reaching and making an impact on referring physicians is not all that far off as emotions go. Doctors have their own set of worries, whether it be about; patient loyalty, patients wellness, happy staff, having enough time to get everything accomplished, all while making money and keeping their practice alive.  This is especially challenging for independent physicians that don’t have the support of a hospital system.

Trends towards independent physicians getting bought out by hospital systems have cut down the number of private practices and many physicians and patients have been left wondering why hospital-owned physicians decided to sell.  The root of all patient and physician decisions resorts back to loyalty; emotional and financial support and security. With the changes that will occur over the next few years in our profession, we predict the rise of patient loyalty to independent physicians due to their ability and freedom to adopt transparency and patient-focused quality care.