Relationships Still Matter
August 24, 2009 by Marissa Murphy
With all the world 'a-Twitter', it’s no surprise that hospital marketers are captivated by all the cool, new ways to attract patients to their hospital. A new Facebook page or Twitter program is the sexy choice for getting a message out today. But in a world where 140 characters is all you need to start a movement, we see the most basic elements of delivering a message is sometimes forgotten.
Case in point: One of the biggest financial challenges hospitals face today is losing patient leakage -- and patient revenue -- to outside providers. Will YouTube fix that? Instead, I'd argue taking your specialists to meet with primary care physicians in the market (you know, old fashion, human to human contact) is a lot more valuable. Hard to believe?
Well, according to the last survey conducted by the Center for Studying Health System Change, 68% of those looking for new specialists made their choice based upon the referral of their primary care physician (PCP). http://www.hschange.com/index.cgi?data=02
It's all about relationships. A basic ingredient of any successful healthcare provider is the relationship that exists between its primary care physicians and its specialists. It is critical for hospital marketers to monitor referral patterns and identify opportunities to their specialists to grow volume. And much like you need consistency in ad placements to ensure effectiveness, you need to keep your specialists in front of their referral sources -- you know, frequency, frequency, frequency.
Now I am not suggesting that healthcare marketers abandon their investments in consumer marketing and social media. Building strong regional brands and promoting specific services lines are still important marketing strategies. But in the rush to speak to consumers and appeal to the masses, marketers can't allow their organizations to lose sight of the important role physicians and their relationships play in driving patient volume and revenue.
So here’s an example of your next Twitter post: “Taking our new cardiologist, Dr. Jones, to meet some of the best primary care docs in the region” (that’s only 96 characters by the way) and take a break from the computer because relationships still matter.
