Beyond the Referral: Developing True Partnerships with Physicians

By Lora Croley, MBA, CFRE, System Director of Donor Relations for Baptist Health | Kentucky & Southern Indiana and Erin Stitzel, FAHP, CFRE, Principal Consultant at Accordant

This is not a paid advertisement,” said Justin Leighty, Baptist Health Louisville foundation executive, following an impromptu story shared by grateful patient Mike Cronin. Mike, along with more than 100 fellow donors, was at a gathering to hear three Baptist Health neurosurgeons speak about advancements in their service line, and how philanthropy supports their work. This in and of itself was enough to garner applause and excitement from the crowd–but then Mike spoke unprompted. Mike shared his profound gratitude for Dr. Nathan Todnem, who performed surgery on him less than a year ago.

On that same evening in Lexington, Kentucky, two neurologists were teaching a group of donors about the ways their giving can advance stroke care at Baptist Health Lexington. The duo of doctors educated, engaged, and graciously thanked donors, many of whom chose to support the hospital because of their patient experience.

These are not rare occurrences throughout the Baptist Healthcare system in Kentucky and southern Indiana. Many physicians are key partners in engaging at all levels of the donor cycle–from identification, to cultivation, all the way through stewardship–and the number of those involved continues to grow. Grateful engagement is now engrained in the organizational culture. Physicians and philanthropy teams are developing true partnerships to move healthcare forward in the communities they serve.

In healthcare philanthropy, it is widely touted that most gifts are provided by grateful patients and families. Our sector relies on an abundance of affinity for our organizations, our missions, and the incredible ways innovative, quality healthcare touches our lives. That affinity is almost always rooted in gratitude, an emotion that drives action.

The ways we identify and connect with grateful patients have become more sophisticated, targeted, and strategic through the years. Thanks to the article “Major gift officers: A valuable commodity—are we using them well?” published by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy’s Fall 2010 journal1, we know the profound effects our physicians have on driving these relationships. The period of cultivation from the donor’s point of view began with their patient experience, making the physician a key part of the continuation of the philanthropic relationship.

Today’s doctors are busier than ever, so how does partnership with philanthropy teams become a priority? In a word: relationships. Philanthropy professionals must treat our physicians just as we would our valued donors and build meaningful relationships over time. As trust is established and values become more aligned, physician partnership will occur. This is not an overnight change. At Baptist Health, the physician and philanthropy team relationships have evolved across a three-year period of intentional engagement.

Where to Start?

Our organizations are filled with many beloved physicians who are known for their clinical expertise or their compassionate bedside manner, making it tempting to seek out physician allies in mass. However, it’s vital to remain targeted on service lines that best align with your fundraising initiatives. This ensures a deeper appreciation by the physician for why to partner with philanthropy if they have a clear understanding of how the dollars they are helping raise benefit their patients, families, and the work that they do. It also ensures that the philanthropy team has viable projects to talk about with to prospective patient donors surfaced through these efforts. Once the appropriate service line is identified, key partners such as the service line department leaders or executive leaders can help identify potential physician partners.

Once potential partners have been identified, authentic relationship building can begin. Philanthropy teams can learn the physician’s passions, preferences, and aspirations and become a meaningful partner in their work. Deliberate time must be spent prioritizing the relationship as rushing this process may derail any future efforts. The philanthropy team must put forth the same time, focus, and energy in building relationships with physician partners as they would with any traditional major gift prospect.

Passion Projects and Partnership

Many physicians went into their professions because they want to make a difference–to save lives, heal, cure, and treat. That passion does not wane over time and often, continues to fuel them forward. It should be noted that in today, physician burnout is at an all-time high. Many physicians today have burdensome administrative commitments and must spend hours logging information in electronic medical record systems. The COVID-19 pandemic only exasperated physician burnout. Philanthropy has the opportunity to help physicians reignite their passion by partnering with them in a way that is desired by the physician. Over the past decade, the practice of working with physicians to encourage the physician to make introductions of their grateful patients and families to philanthropy officers has become widely utilized.

Many times, this type of relationship becomes one-sided and does not take into account the unique talents or the wishes of the physician for how they might want to partner with philanthropy. Philanthropy professionals can be creative in helping our physicians demonstrate their passions beyond practice and beyond just making grateful patient referrals, all while raising the profile for philanthropy.

One of the most effective ways to do this is through the creative implementation of physician feature events. By inviting physician partners to share their expertise in small, intimate gathering with prospective grateful patients and families, the philanthropy program is positioned to raise awareness about the impact of the physician’s work and the organization, but also to receive referrals for potential prospect follow up. Most importantly, the physician’s passion is ignited through speaking at these events about how their work is making an impact for their patients and communities served.

Celebrating Gratitude is a Two-Way Street

Centering our work on gratitude is about more than just asking our physicians to identify and refer it, it is imperative that we remind our physician partners of the impact that can be generated through it.

There are varieties of ways to ensure your physician partners receive meaningful stewardship in addition to the grateful patients. Invite your physicians to attend stewardship events with no expectations–let them see their grateful patients and donors in an informal setting where they can get to know one another on a more personal level. This fosters a deeper sense of community while providing an atmosphere for gratitude to be freely expressed. Creative storytelling of the patient experience can create a culture in which gratitude is the conduit to numerous shared, meaningful experiences.

Physicians and philanthropy teams are both working toward shared goals: to make their communities healthier, better places. When working together, the impact that can be achieved is immeasurable.

Baptist Health Foundation Case Study2

In order to prepare for and accelerate success for Baptist Health’s comprehensive $100 million campaign, Baptist Health Foundation partnered with Accordant to develop and implement a comprehensive grateful patient and clinician engagement strategy across eight Baptist Health markets to identify a new pool of prospective grateful patient and family donors.

About Baptist Health | Kentucky & southern Indiana Healthcare

• 9 markets

• 2,770 licensed beds

• 400+ points of care in KY and IN

• 94K inpatients

• 2.1 million outpatients

About Baptist Health Foundation

• 36 FTEs across system office and 9 market foundations

• $25 million raised in FY22