Websites Becoming a Business Necessity for Osteopathic Family Physicians
By Belinda Bombei
With the current consumer emphasis on using the Internet to research product and service providers, family medicine practices can only benefit from a well developed practice website to promote their services. Like many other business and service providers in today’s market, family medicine practice websites act as portals to the services, procedures, and promotion of the expertise offered at their business.
Opportunities Defined
When people move into a new area, there are a few common methods for finding a new physician or family medical practice. Some rely on the “Yellow Pages” or health insurance directories to find contact information for family physicians in the area. Others look to neighbors, friends, and colleagues to get references for physicians. However, more and more people are using the Internet to do background research on physicians and look for experts or physicians in their area.
“A good medical practice website provides prospective patients the information and confidence they need to choose you,” assesses M. Jay Porcelli, DO, FACOFP dist. “With nearly 200 million Americans1 regularly using the Internet, a website is a business necessity – even more than a Yellow Pages ad. It brings new patients to the practice. At the very least, an online website never sleeps; it is open to provide information and limited services to all that visit on a 24 hour, 365 day basis.”
Dr. Porcelli’s goal in launching drjayporcelli.com in the spring of 2008 was three-pronged:
1. Communicate the specialty areas of his osteopathic medical practice
2. Increase his patient base
3. Increase referrals
As Dr. Porcelli does in his site, family medicine practices can use websites to communicate important information, make people comfortable with the clinic, and provide a call to action to induce a visit. When prospects view these websites, they are looking to get a feel, or level of comfort with the practice prior to making a phone call. Providing information on certifications, education, and experience are often keys to putting potential clients at ease. Philosophies on medicine and some family background, if applicable, are also helpful, as they give people a sense of connection to the physician.
Contact information is vital. Many family practice sites provide patient information forms online that allow candidates to provide their contact information, giving physicians the ability to contact them. While websites cannot work with clients and provide medical services, they can be great tools to entice prospects to visit a physician for the first time. They can also be an information resource that provides answers to common patient questions. Informative and functional sites can help reduce demands on practice staff and receptionists to answer basic questions over the phone.
Websites are also a great way for family medicine practices to promote health insurance coverage accepted by the practice. For many patients, this is of primary concern with the network driven health insurance industry. Ultimately, the primary reason a family medical practice needs a website is that if it does not, the competition does. This can create a huge competitive disadvantage.
Another reason many family medicine practices use websites as a key access point for potential clients is that many people use the Internet to attempt self diagnosis and research about their symptoms. By having a website that is helpful and provides beneficial information, a family medicine practice can transform a curious researcher into a viable patient. Many patients come into the doctor’s office armed with reports and information. It can be helpful to physicians if the information patients rely on it provided by the practice’s site. Finally, a website can be great for providing resources including downloadable forms and directions to the office.
Steven F. Rubin, DO, FACOFP dist’s goals in implementing his practice website at rubindo.com were to:
Dr. Rubin personally believes that his website has been used as a major resource for these medial sites and links, which include all forms of educational material.
He continues on to say that “rubindo.com has been beneficial in that is provides a means of communication of the procedures and the medical scope of my practice including my educational background, the professional organizations and associations that I am actively involved in and validation of my training and experience within the medical and in particular, the osteopathic medical profession.”
“It allows those who view my website to also see a personal side of me via the photographs of me, my patients, osteopathic manipulative techniques and learn about the osteopathic profession,” he elaborated. “The website also allows patients the ability to have my email address, which now gives them another mechanism for patients or other interested person to contact me for a variety of reasons, medically, personally, and professionally. I feel communication is the major reasons for having a website and it has proven invaluable to me personally.”
Visit Dr. Rubin’s and Dr. Porcelli’s sites where they encourage you to contact them via their Contact Us page with any questions you might have about developing your own osteopathic medical practice website.
Belinda Bombei is the medical editor and writer for OsteopathicEditor.com and has more than five years of experience editing, writing and designing websites for the osteopathic profession.
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