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Top Five Considerations for Your Medical Practice

Physicians who own a private practice juggle two jobs. The biggest and most important job is ensuring their patients receive the highest level of care possible. The second job is running the business side of the practice. Even if you have a business administrator to handle day-to-day transactions, it is important that you, as a business owner, are directly involved in the marketing of the practice. Following are five considerations as you do this:

1. Conduct a review of your own and your competitors’ digital presence.

Your website is prospective patients’ first impression of your medical practice, so it’s essential that it portrays your practice as up-to-date and inviting. Visit your top competitors’ websites and social media pages and take a look around. Aesthetically and technologically, are your competitors’ websites more modern or more user-friendly than yours? If so, it may be time for your own website refresh.

If you significantly change your website content, it’s best to review the new content with a knowledgeable healthcare attorney before launching it so they can advise you of any potential red flags.

• Develop and implement a promotion plan.

Some ideas for promoting your practice are:

• Regularly updating your social media posts with news about your practice as well as other relevant news and stories
• Purchasing ads on social media – this is one of the most cost-efficient types of advertising
• Participating in community events, such as health fairs, when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted
• Offering the physicians in your practice as local experts for media interviews when topics related to your practice area are in the news
• Issuing press releases to announce new offerings and when new physicians join the practice.

It’s important to follow FTC and AMA guidelines when promoting your practice. Contact a healthcare attorney with any questions regarding the legalities of your promotions before you run them.

• Critically evaluate the condition of your offices.

When was the last time that you renovated your offices? Are there scratches on the walls or nicks on the furniture in the waiting room? Out-of-date décor? These may seem like trivial matters, but they are details that patients notice and can impact their perception of your practice. If you want patients to feel confident that your practice is top-notch, it’s essential to look the part.

• Conduct patient satisfaction surveys.

If a patient has a bad experience with your practice, whether it’s the level of care or a surly staff member, you need to know about it. Work with a market researcher to develop a survey to send electronically to patients about their experience with your practice. If any negative issues are identified, make sure to rectify them right away to prevent them from growing or, in a worst-case scenario, becoming a legal issue.

• Consider ancillary lines of business.

Are there additional products or services that could grow your business while offering a value-add to consumers? Some examples to consider are:

• Having a registered dietician, aesthetician, social worker, or physical therapist on staff
• Selling orthotic devices onsite instead of referring the patient to a medical supply store
• Offering a private label brand of skin products

Whether you are starting a new medical practice or looking to grow your existing one, if you want to speak to one of South Florida’s top healthcare business law attorneys, contact ECanter Lawyers at 561-447-4500.