Marketing: If Not Now, When?
Engaging patients and bringing them back
Almost every practice has its numbers. Patient volume down, revenue down and reserves often too thin to hold on to the entire staff.
communicate.
patients and staff, need to be informed that in some
“I would say that the marketing team is critical to the day to day operation of the business because you can’t communicate without them at this point. And that goes
cases there might be Saturday and Sunday hours just to get through the backlog. “I think the biggest takeaways have been being able to
also to the employee side and employee engagement.
really pivot fast from a website and social media stand-
How do we communicate with employees of large prac-
point to stay relevant and engaging with your employees,
death to fear and uncertainty and has resulted in hard-
tices? How do we keep furloughed employees or em-
because if you lose your employees, you lose everything,”
ship in all corners of the economy. Healthcare included.
ployees who are working at home right now engaged in
she said.
COVID-19 has spread everything from sickness and
A report from Medical Group Management Associa-
what’s happening in the practice. Three months ago, we
tion 97 percent of practices have experienced a negative
were at almost full employment. Now we’re at double
financial impact and on average they report a 55 percent
digit unemployment numbers and it might be easier for
decrease in revenue and 60 percent decrease in patient
them just to stay at home and get a different job than
volume due to COVID-19.
trying to come back to a practice,” said Thompson. For example, it was just a few weeks ago that elec-
Patient visits are, of course, the lifeblood of successful practices. But fear of exposure to the virus and uncer-
tive surgeries were not being performed and there
tainty of what will happen in the process of going to a
has been a backlog of cases built up. That means that
clinic or hospital, and in some cases policy limitation of
practices have to ramp up staff quickly and everyone,
The Telemedicine Element in the Equation Marketing has also changed as a result of expanded use of telemedicine. “We knew about telemedicine/telehealth, but the regulatory environment was so strict and the reimburse-
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service, is keeping patients at bay. Now that we are seeing the economy reopen, albeit on rocky footing, getting patients back to the practice is slow going.
PHYSICIAN & ENTREPRENEUR WIFE DEVELOP ORLANDO RX2LIVE FRANCHISE
“Now more so than ever before, marketing is critical because patients are going online to get up to the minute information. Being able to communicate with your patients in the place and at the time they want to be communicated with, is really the difference maker between the practices that are going to get through this successfully and not through this successfully,” shares Jennifer Thompson, president of Insight Marketing Group in Orlando.
RX2Live Franchisees
In a recent Central Florida Medical Group Man-
Fabricio Lorenzi, MD and RX2Live franchisee, Ana Paula Martins Lorenzi open RX2Live franchise, specializing in Healthcare services in Orlando
agement Association podcast with Daniel Williams, Thompson said that marketing communications with patients in a quick, real time status is best done through your website and social media. If a new office protocol is established or the CDC makes a new recommendation
CONTACT INFORMATION:
or even if, because of the surge in COVID cases, elective communicate with patients and employees to communicate changes as quickly as possible.
Providing a personal touch for your patients and delivering monthly recurring revenue. • Better Patient Outcomes
407-883-6356 MLorenzi@RX2Live.com Spanish & Portuguese Fluent
surgeries are put on hold again, it’s the best method to
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• Increased Revenue • Improved Quality Measures
“How do we prepare the patients who are still coming in for an appointment where they’re going to be maybe
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waiting in their car versus sitting in the waiting room?
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How do you prepare them for a doctor who might be in
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gloves and wearing masks and is requiring them to wear a mask? How do you teach them how to use telemedi-
Providing lab testing, PPE supplies, kits, and equipment to help fight the spread of Covid 19.
www.rx2live.com
cine? Patient readiness has come into play and it requires
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us to step up our communication skills and at the same
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time, be very deliberate because what we’re putting out
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there, people are paying more attention to now than
• Keep Healthcare Professionals Safe
they’ve ever paid attention to before,” she said. It’s not just patients with whom the practice needs to
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