Back to the Basics: Radiology Marketing

We’re always trying to think of innovative and creative ways to market our radiology practices to patients and the referring community, but sometimes it is best to take a step back. Go back to the basics. Marketing is about finding the things that make your practice memorable and showcasing those attributes.

Sometimes we get ourselves in marketing ruts though, by focusing on the wrong things about our practice. By thinking that the only benefits of our practices are related to accreditations or technology, we are forgetting about the components that truly make us unique.

Think about what it is like for a patient coming to your office. What are some of the things your staff does to make that patient feel comfortable and valued? How do you make sure that they have a positive experience? Starting today, think about some of the little things you can be doing to rebrand your patient experience.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

            Opening Doors

Marigay McKee, President of Saks Fifth Avenue, with her doormen.

Saks Fifth Avenue is in the process of rebranding their Manhattan store by focusing on their shoppers’ experience. This started with the reintroduction of doormen, which brought the department store’s sense of luxury back. Now we don’t expect you to be hiring doormen for your imaging center, but if you can go a little out of your way to open the door for a patient you see coming in from the parking lot, do it.

 Introductions

When a patient is called back from the waiting room, you’re meeting that patient for the first time.  Introduce yourself to them. This is something you do when you meet people in scenarios outside of your imaging center, so why wouldn’t you do the same thing inside your imaging center?

Radiologist Availability

If your radiologists can be available by phone to consult with referring offices that can make all the difference in the world. This is one of the services that not all imaging centers can provide, but goes a long way.

Online Scheduling

Sometimes patients can’t get on the phone to schedule an appointment in the middle of the day, whether they are at work or just too busy during normal hours. If you can build in an online appointment request page to your website, that can be so useful to patients and referring physicians.

Clear Pricing

As a patient shopping for affordable radiology procedures, it can be very challenging to find what you are looking for because practices don’t want to disclose their costs.  If no one else in your area is participating in price transparency, be the first one to join the party. Patients will appreciate your effort.

If your practice is already doing things like these, then don’t be afraid to let patients and referring offices know. If you aren’t focusing on the little things, then you have plenty of room to improve and let the community know that you’re changing your ways!

Why Doctors Should Stop Battling Transparency

Demands for quality and price transparency in all sectors of healthcare have journalists, patients and healthcare companies alike, believing that it could be the cure-all for our broken system.  Billions of dollars have been reported over-spent in the industry and it is clear that we need a solution, so why is it so hard for doctors to accept that transparency could be the first step?

As care providers, there are a number of issues that we could have with the full transparency model. The most apparent is a doctor’s concern with being commoditized, especially if their procedures are considered high-ticket price services. If a patient has to come out-of-pocket to pay for a procedure, the likelihood that the procedure will be put off is high.  This is a common concern for radiologists especially, who have uninsured patients or patients in need of studies for elective procedures. 

What most physicians concerned about commoditization don’t realize, is that by “succumbing” to transparency, they can become more competitive with their pricing strategies. For example, if a patient is able to compare your quality in comparison with your less appealing competition and your pricing is the same, your patient can make their own educated decision and a wiser choice. You can bet 10-to-1 that when pricing is the same, higher quality will win out, even in healthcare where high price does not necessarily point to high quality.

Traditionally, patients have made their care decisions based off of word of mouth. Whether a family member, friend or their physician advises them; other people’s opinions of your practice matter to your potential patients. So, most commonly if a doctor tells a patient they need further care, the patient will go wherever they tell them to go. Times, they are a’changing though. Patients are becoming more consumer-driven which means that having your pricing and quality available makes you more accessible to a growing patient population.

For particularly price-sensitive patients, listing yourself on transparency websites could make all the difference, especially if other similar or competing practices are still batting the need for transparency.  It is equally as helpful to referring offices with patients in need of affordable options, because they won’t have to waste time calling around to various practices for pricing. 

Physicians do not like to change their ways. It is as simple as that. Transparency however, is an aspect of change that is on the horizon for all of us, just as much as EMRs and social media, so the sooner you jump on board, the better. 

A Cartoonist's View of Health Insurance

Dear Supreme Court,

Health Insurance Sucks.

Sincerely,

Jen Sorensen

Since it’s Friday, Kaiser Health News was feeling silly and shared this great masterpiece from the mind of cartoonist Jen Sorensen, on the trials and tribulations related to high health costs and the challenges associated with health insurance. It seems like there should be an easier way to find affordable healthcare in the United States… right? In the words of Dane Cook, “it’s funny, because it’s true.”

If you liked this strip, be sure to check out more of Jen Sorensen’s work at Slowpoke Comics.

Radiologists Use Healthcare Marketing to Combat Industry Challenges

In the same way that the consumer industry turns to marketing and public relations to combat industry challenges and vie with competition for consumer spotlight, the healthcare industry uses marketing to attract new patients.  Healthcare reform and tendencies towards healthcare transparency in addition to Medicare changes in regards to reimbursement have created a unique challenge for providers, but have influenced radiologists in more ways than one. Of course, providers can’t compete like Macs and PCs can, but think of independent radiologists as a Mac with more personalized settings, creative and unique methods and less stress.

The issues radiologists face on a daily basis include overutilization for services as a result of other specialists taking advantage of self-referral capabilities, decreased reimbursement from Medicare and the commoditization of diagnostic imaging due to vast pricing disparities’ and the misconception that patients cannot afford quality care.  These challenges of course have led to decreased confidence among radiologists and desperate attempts to stay afloat.  Some in the industry believe that the only solution is to join an Accountable Care Organization or to be bought out by a hospital, succumbing to the pressures of change without any effort to transform the way they do business.  Through a series of solutions to improve performance, manage change and find success, efforts can be made to bring practices into the future of healthcare by being proactive and positioning themselves for success.

The issue of over-utilization in reference to diagnostic imaging procedures in our country would be eliminated if self-referral patterns were less prominent.  The solution is for radiologists to focus on marketing the strengths of patients going to independent outpatient imaging facilities over other options that are unable to focus on just radiology. These strengths are accreditations, on-site radiologists, more intricate and specialized capabilities, personalized service and affordable pricing for patients.  Through physician outreach and networking with specialists and general care providers, radiologists can also show referring physicians the multitude of benefits of working together.  Incorporating a marketing professional who aims to build referral relations and new patient volume can also help rebrand the outlook of your whole practice.

No practice can truly combat decreased reimbursement, but they can take steps to make sure that there are as few mistakes as possible and expedite the collections process.  By having a well-equipped billing and coding department, practices can capitalize on time and money spent.  By maintaining control by recruiting the help of professionals, your practice can focus on the important aspects of care.

Radiologists, all healthcare providers in fact, are in the industry to provide care to those in need, which is why the commoditization of care is every provider’s worst nightmare.  The solution is price transparency in healthcare.  By being a resource to patients and providing them with facts on their procedures and giving clear invoices and pricing up front will show patients that they can in fact receive the care they need at costs they can afford.  Of course, transparency will only be affective when melded with proof of quality, so if all providers hold their practices to a standard of excellence, patients will be able to truly see the disparities in the healthcare pricing industry.  Creating strategies to capitalize on this price-sensitive patient market is crucial to staying afloat in the tragic healthcare economy we find ourselves in.

Why Your Practice Needs a Self-Pay Strategy

Trends towards price transparency in the healthcare industry have led practices to require new and innovative methods towards revenue management and marketing. The increasing rates of uninsured Americans and high-deductible health plans have pushed patients to start price shopping for affordable healthcare in the same way they shop for deals in other consumer industries.  The price shopping has built patient awareness of things like fee schedules and pricing variances, which makes the demand for pricing transparency more and more influential.

This of course benefits patients by arming them with the appropriate information needed to understand their healthcare.  Before, Patients didn’t know that the MRI procedure they received for $3,000 could have been found for $500 if they looked around for a better deal. More importantly however, the patient didn’t realize that the quality of the service at both facilities was not worth the difference in price.  Pricing transparency has revealed to many patients that often times, taking the self-pay route, is the most affordable way to get the care they need.

Practices are apprehensive of this mission for price transparency and self-pay patient empowerment due to fears of decreased revenue and poor return on investment after committing themselves to the new strategy. With high insurance costs and diminished reimbursements, imaging centers in particular, are looking for any way to stay afloat.  Sticking to the ways of always doing things is not the answer; a new strategy is the answer. A self-pay and pricing transparency strategy is the key.

Without a legitimate strategy geared towards the price sensitive patient market, practices are seeing:
- A missed market segment
- Lost revenue due to poor collections
- Lower patient volume because of commoditization
- Decreased authority in the industry
- Lost leverage

The last thing that the industry needs is for patients consider quality care to be a commodity, simply because they do not know where to find care they can actually afford.  These disparities have also led to a warped understanding of price versus value.  Patients are programmed to think that if something is more expensive, then it is better, but as we mentioned before, quality is not always reflective of pricing. 

By developing a truly manageable self-pay strategy, practices are able to be up to date in the industry, captivating new patients they would have never reached prior.  Virtual care is the next step on the horizon in healthcare, and the patient experience starts with picking a facility and scheduling an appointment, which is why Save On Medical aims to help each practice on their site put their best foot forward from the very beginning.  With the assistance of Save On Medical, practices are able to follow an effective strategy, measuring success and growth over time, learning from lost patients and growing with their new ones.