COVER STORY Marketing: If Not Now,When?

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.

COVID-19 has spread everything from sickness and death to fear and uncertainty and has resulted in hardship in all corners of the economy. Healthcare included.

A report from Medical Group Management Association 97 percent of practices have experienced a negative financial impact and on average they report a 55 percent decrease in revenue and 60 percent decrease in patient volume due to COVID-19.

Patient visits are, of course, the lifeblood of successful practices. But fear of exposure to the virus and uncertainty of what will happen in the process of going to a clinic or hospital, and in some cases policy limitation of 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.

“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.

In a recent Central Florida Medical Group Management 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 or even if, because of the surge in COVID cases, elective surgeries are put on hold again, it’s the best method to communicate with patients and employees to communicate changes as quickly as possible.

“How do we prepare the patients who are still coming in for an appointment where they’re going to be maybe waiting in their car versus sitting in the waiting room? How do you prepare them for a doctor who might be in gloves and wearing masks and is requiring them to wear a mask? How do you teach them how to use telemedicine? Patient readiness has come into play and it requires us to step up our communication skills and at the same time, be very deliberate because what we’re putting out there, people are paying more attention to now than they’ve ever paid attention to before,” she said.

It’s not just patients with whom the practice needs to communicate.

“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 also to the employee side and employee engagement. How do we communicate with employees of large practices? How do we keep furloughed employees or employees who are working at home right now engaged in what’s happening in the practice. Three months ago, we were at almost full employment. Now we’re at double digit unemployment numbers and it might be easier for them just to stay at home and get a different job than trying to come back to a practice,” said Thompson.

For example, it was just a few weeks ago that elective surgeries were not being performed and there has been a backlog of cases built up. That means that practices have to ramp up staff quickly and everyone, patients and staff, need to be informed that in some cases there might be Saturday and Sunday hours just to get through the backlog.

“I think the biggest takeaways have been being able to really pivot fast from a website and social media standpoint to stay relevant and engaging with your employees, because if you lose your employees, you lose everything,” she said.

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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CONTINUED ... Marketing: If Not Now,When?

ments were so poor that it didn’t ever really feel like anyone was truly going to invest fully into it… then that changed literally overnight,” said Thompson.

She pointed out that learning to help practices integrate telemedicine into their service was a “deep dive” to understand, but it was also a real game changer for practices and it has allowed them to continue bringing in revenue and at the same time stay relevant with their patients. The question is, will the rules for its use continue to be as flexible as they have been?

“I was very optimistic yesterday. I actually downloaded a 118-page telehealth grant. There’s about $300 million that the government has agreed to provide as a reimbursement to providers who get on with telemedicine,” said Thompson. “It’s really aimed at rural practices and for-profit hospitals and those providing care to the indigent population. But that $300 million investment tells me that we’ve kind of gotten to the point of no return. So, I’m really excited for the first time ever in what telehealth is going to bring to this industry.”

Thompson is looking at what telemedicine is going to mean in the future, past this pandemic.

“I’ve had some docs who are saying ‘well, I don’t want to do these telehealth appointments,’ but then you’ve got the patient side. I think the genie’s out of the bottle and you’re not getting the genie back in the bottle. I was talking to an orthopedic hand surgeon about the future of telehealth and I asked if he was going to continue seeing patients (this way). He’s a younger guy and he said ‘absolutely, because not only did it work during this process, but now I’ve got a backlog of surgery and I’m going to do my post-ops through telehealth.”

Another advantage has been the benefit it has had on the issue of burnout.

“For the first time, in a long time, the docs were able to work from home a little bit because they’re using telehealth. They were spending a little bit more time with their family and the schedule was a little relaxed. And so you can’t just expect these physicians to pivot completely and come back to the 60 plus hour weeks because telehealth now affords them a little bit of a reprieve and it tackles the physician burnout dilemma head on. Does this help you attract the next younger breed of physician and will the physician expect this?”

Social Media Changes

“I think social media, right now, is one of your most important tools for the practice. I’ve been preaching for years that there’s a difference between being “on” social media and being “in” social media,” she said.

Thompson says for years there has been a school of thought that you could come up with some standard posts that you put out there on social media; maybe something for a holiday or doctor’s day, breast cancer awareness month or blog posts. And for a long time, that was good enough. But, she said, as social media changed and the way algorithms changed, it just doesn’t work.

“You have to be in social media. You have to do things in the moment, which really requires a pretty intensive time commitment and strategy and planning to engage with your patients on a regular basis. Practices that have been doing this and have done it right, are reaping the rewards and benefits right now. And those are the practices working to come out on the other end of this that are much more successful as a result. I’ve got a client who’s a fertility doctor and has a really strong audience and right now he’s not seeing patients, but he’s been doing a series of live Facebook and Instagram events since about the end of March. The first one he did ended up having about a hundred people, give or take, on the call on Facebook live and he’s going through it with all of these people who are prospective parents chatting with him asking him questions that he’s answering. Social media is your chance to stay relevant with your patients so that later on, when they do need you, they’re going to come to you,” Thompson pointed out.

Thompson says it’s never too late to get started. Pick a social channel. She suggests Facebook because “all your patients are on it. Even if you have a patient population 30 or older, they’re on it. Your website is your front line of defense. That is your opportunity to get the most relevant information out there.

Make sure you’re keeping your information on your website correct. Do not forget about using your Google My Business pages. What I mean by that is when somebody Googles your practice looking for information, are you open? The Google My Business listing is going to pop up on that front page. And if it says your office is open, but in fact your office is closed and maybe you put that on your website, but you didn’t change your Google My Business page, you’re sending a very mixed message to your audience. You need to remember all those directory listings that are driving people to your website as well,” she said.

Thompson says now’s a great time to try new things.

“I think that if you try new things, you’re going to be better off for it. I have a large ophthalmology practice I work with. They had to shut down every office location that they had, and they had to send all 350 or so employees home. When they reopened a couple of weeks ago, they slowly opened and they said, ‘You know what? We’re going to use Facebook private groups with our employees to communicate what reopening is. We’re going to have to implement telehealth just to survive. And we’re going to put our waiting rooms in the parking lot. And we’re going to text people when it’s time for them to come in.’ Had this pandemic not forced them to try all those things, they wouldn’t have seen all the opportunities to improve their practice. Those things are now going to be part of their day to day, even in this new normal. So, if we can look at it as a positive and learn from this experience, we’re all going to be better off in the long run for it.”

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As the COVID-19 pandemic has grown, increased mental health issues for Americans, which began almost immediately have caused high levels of emotional distress.

In a poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than half of Americans – 56 percent – reported that stress related to the outbreak has led to at least one negative mental health effect. Those include trouble eating or sleeping, increased alcohol intake, frequent headaches/stomachaches, shorter tempers, and other issues. Among frontline health care workers and their families, 64 percent reported a worsened state of mental health. Reports were similar for 65 percent of those who had lost income.

Orlando Medical News talked with Vicki Garner, LMHC, who is the director of behavioral health at CAYA Healthcare.

Garner has been a behavioral healthcare executive in the Central Florida area for over 25 years, working to develop and implement programs and services that streamline the system of care and reduce the stigma of mental illness.

She has an enviable record of accomplishment and advocacy for mental health.

She worked on the Mayor’s task force that brought Florida’s first Central Receiving Center to Orange County and later worked on a statewide task force to revise the Baker Act into what is now Senate Bill 12, requiring every county to have a Central Receiving Center.

Garner has been a strong advocate for mental health funding. She developed a jail diversion program with Orange County leadership, implemented Florida’s first Assertive Community Treatment Team and was honored by Governor Scott in 2016 for her leadership in assisting the community’s mental health needs in the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub tragedy.

She has presented at numerous state and national conferences and on many panels regarding multiple behavioral health issues.

OMN: We are seeing reports sourcing some mental health call-in centers that say there is as much as double the number of calls as usual and reports of domestic violence, sexual abuse

Stress in Tough Times

Vicki Garner, LMHC, discusses the effects of these uncertain times

and drug use increasing. Is this the experience your group has been seeing?

Vicki Garner, LMHC: Mental health call in centers do not, as a rule, get reports of domestic violence or sexual abuse or even so much drug abuse. They would get calls for behavioral health services. We have seen some increase in requests for counseling services for the following problems: anxiety, depression, alcohol and other substances abuse, childhood disorders such as ADHD, fear and isolation and acting out.

There have been reported increases in some areas of increased calls to law enforcement for domestic violence and child abuse, but this is yet to be determined as to how much COVID will impact this while school is out. Since children are not leaving their homes, with no teachers or other mandatory reporters to intervene. The problem of child abuse could be much greater than even feared. This is the same for domestic violence if the victim is trapped in the home with her (or his) perpetrator.

OMN: What are the most common specific anxieties and fears you are hearing from patients as a result of the COVID crisis?

Garner: Fear of contracting the virus or fear of someone they love contracting virus. Fear of dying once contracting the virus. Fear of losing one’s job, home and way of life. The unknown is a big stressor to many people. The young people who were cheated out of graduations, proms and other meaningful rites of passage feel very depressed and sad but are sometimes

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