Marketing the Primary Care Medical Practice

You’ve got to know the territory – and your customers!

By Joshua S. Coren, DO, MBA

One of the primary strategic business methods for expanding patient volume, increasing practice revenue and improving customer satisfaction in a primary care office is effective marketing. Marketing is a societal process through which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want by creating, offering and freely exchanging with each other products and services of value.(1)

The value to the provider is the money exchanged for the health care services provided.

Using this “value,” a physician can hire support staff, purchase equipment and sustain an income.

In the case of a primary care office, the exchange is that of a valued service between health care provider and patient. Through properly incorporating target marketing and segmentation, addressing service value and patient satisfaction, and utilizing effective marketing channels, physicians can survive and prosper in the competitive health care environment of the 21st century.

Some of the noted complexities of marketing health care to patients are as follows:

  1. Health care is probably the most intangible service there is, because the consumer cannot sample it before the purchase and usually cannot evaluate it after consumption.
  2. There is a mismatch between consumer expectation and actual delivery in health care, and this may be greater for the health care product than other products because of the unique nature of individual diagnosis, the response to medications and treatment. In addition, the multiplicity of health care professionals with whom the patient interacts, results in greater variation in the quality of care.
  3. Frequently, the patient does not pay directly for the health care services.(2)

Developing a marketing-oriented philosophy links the survival of a primary care practice as a business with the needs and wants of the patient. “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”(3)

One useful method for increasing market penetration is through the provision of quality service. To the consumer, quality is attained only when the service meets or exceeds expectations. Since competent medical care is difficult to evaluate by patients, other indicators tend to be the focus of quality within the office. Friendly nurses and medical assistants, clean and pleasant surroundings, convenient office hours, prompt responses to patient phone calls, after-hours availability and the ease of setting appointments are all easily measured characteristics of a quality practice that patients can readily evaluate.

Patient dissatisfaction may be invisible to the practice, but can have a devastating impact on the bottom line as follows:

  1. Ninety percent of dissatisfied patients or customers will never tell you that they are unhappy, but they will not return and do business with you again.
  2. Each dissatisfied customer will tell at least nine other people.
  3. Thirteen percent of those who are dissatisfied will tell at least twenty other people.(4)

The dissatisfaction of only one patient with the quality of service during an office visit can result in negative marketing and lost revenue. If you pay close attention to the entrance to exit experience of an office visit, it can increase the perception of quality in the eyes
of your patients.

A landmark 1982 United States Supreme Court decision revolutionized health care marketing, by permitting physicians to advertise across all media channels. Prior to the decision, physicians depended on patient, hospital and physician referrals as a means of expanding their primary care practice.
The National Yellow Pages Monitor reported in 1995 that a survey of 80,000 customers found that more then 75 percent of searches to “physicians/surgeons” in the Yellow Pages during the previous year resulted in a physician contact – and 54 percent of those contacts resulted in physicians providing billable services.(5)

In a 2005 Yellow Pages Association study, titled “Physicians and Surgeons” ranked second in popularity of over 4,000 Yellow Pages heading classifications accessed by consumers.(6) One of the most frequently searched specialists is the generalist or family practice physician.(7) The office address, professional qualifications, practice services offered and physician specialties are the key features to be placed in the Yellow Pages advertisement.

Phone book advertisements can enable a physician to employ target marketing and market segmentation, which is the division of the market into different homogeneous groups. Targeting the mobile group of the population with visible telephone book advertising is one effective method to segment the market. Approximately 17 percent of the U.S. population moves to a new city each year and use the Yellow Pages substantially.(5)
Advertising the scope of the primary care practice is essential in expanding market share and improving revenue streams. The following are additional services that a primary care practice can provide:

Office Procedures
Physicians who perform office-based surgery in the primary care office can develop a niche in the community they serve. The growing wait times to see sub-specialists should be a driving force for the primary care physician who is proficient in procedural medicine. Dermatological procedures such as mole removals, and orthopedic procedures such as joint injections, add significant marketing value and revenue to the primary care practice, while enabling the office to capture the market.

Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine
As the trend increases toward patients seeking complementary and alternative treatments, osteopathic physicians that practice hands-on manipulation can market this background to the community. One study found that 50 percent of patients were using at least one alternative therapy – and only half of them had told their family physician.(8) With media coverage of the increasing risks of myocardial infarction and cerebral vascular accident with the popular Cox-2 inhibitors, patients may embrace the effectiveness and relative safety of osteopathic medicine to address the musculoskeletal pathologies of aging.

House Calls
House calls are another means of both providing comprehensive care and building a strong customer base. An estimated 13 percent of the U.S. population is age 65 or older, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2025 that age group will grow to nearly 20 percent. Efficient scheduling can enable physicians to maintain both office and home visits while providing quality care and increasing marketability.

Hospitals and Nursing Home Privileges
Marketing the continuity of care from office to hospital could be an added bonus to a patient selecting a primary care physician. Many larger groups enable physicians to rotate between office and hospital during the year to provide complete care for their patients, increasing customer satisfaction.

Team Physicians
Team physicians can develop a relationship within the community by providing medical care in an extracurricular setting. For example, some states, such as New Jersey, are required to have one team physician present on the field for all varsity football games. Interacting with the team, staff and parents can be an enjoyable experience while providing urgent on-field medical expertise. Team physicians have a unique opportunity to attract new patients to the medical practice.

Community Screenings
Attending community, religious, educational and social groups to provide free health care screenings and seminars can be positive communication outlets for a medical practice. Lectures on smoking cessation, nutrition and exercise, hypertension and diabetes are common interests among patients in many communities. Screenings and lectures can increase awareness of health and wellness, thus mutually benefiting the patient and primary care practice.

Target marketing, effective utilization of marketing channels and quality customer service are essential components in competitive primary care practices. Recognizing the value of the office experience for the patient and the various marketing outlets can yield effective results for a primary care practice.

Dr. Coren is a 2002 graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed a dual degree program with Saint Joseph's University and received a Master in Business Administration in 2000. He completed a Family Practice residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine (UMDNJ-SOM) and is board certified in Family Practice. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at UMDNJ-SOM and acts as Medical Director of the University Doctors Family Medicine Office in Hainesport, New Jersey.

 

References

1. Kotler, Philip and Levy, Sydney J., “Broadening the Concept of Marketing,” Journal of Marketing 33, no. 1 (January 1969), pgs. 10-15; and Nauert, Roger C., “The Quest for Value in Health Care,” Journal of Health Care Finance 22, no. 3 (1996), pgs. 52-61.

2. Drucker, Peter F. Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (New York: Harper and Row, 1973), pg.64.

3. France, Karen Russo and Grover, Rajic, “What Is the Health Care Product?” Journal of Health Care Marketing 12, no. 2 (June 1992), pg.32.

4. Youngblood, Barry. American College of Physician Executives, Physician in Management III, 1995.

5, Butler, Daniel D. and Abernathry, Avery M. “Yellow Pages Advertising by Physicians” Journal of Health Care Marketing 16, no. 1 (Spring 1996), pg. 45.

6. Informational Reference of Yellow Page Statistics [Yellow Pages Association Web Site]. Availabe at: http://www.ypassociation.org/pdf/research/2005_Numeric.pdf Accessed December 11, 2005.

7. 2004 Yellow Pages Industry Usage Study conducted by Knowledge Networks/SRI

8. Elder NC, Gillcrist A, Minz R. Use of alternative health care by family practice patients. Arch Fam Med. 1997;6(2):180-184.