Doctors…have you started a new job? Opened up a satellitie location? Built a new medical practice from scratch and want to get patients in the door as soon as possible? See your patient schedule shrinking every week? The DoctorCPR Physician Group has put together the 20 most effective ways for you to get more patients in the door and watch your medical practice grow and prosper ASAP. Visibility, visibility, visibility. You need to be seen where referring doctors hang out. If they all play golf at a country club, consider joining. If they all belong to the same gym, join. Go to hospital meetings, pharmaceutical meetings, medical conferences, staff parties, and hospital retreats. Eat lunch in the doctors cafeteria, go to their kids’ Bar Mitzvah….you name it. You must be seen. Every time you are seen by other doctors, they think about you before others when it comes time to refer. Bring business cards with you EVERYWHERE. Newsletters. Sending e-mail or paper newsletters are fantastic ways of asserting your authority in the field and displaying your commitment to staying on top of new developments in your field. Talk to referring doctors on the phone about patients they have sent you. When other doctors know that you are accessible to discuss patient care, they will want to refer to you more often. Always write consultation notes to referring doctors. They want to know what you are doing with their patients. That is extremely important. Always praise referring doctors. Never, ever badmouth other doctors. You are asking for your practice to crumble. Never refer your patients to other specialists without the patient’s Primary Doctor’s approval. Many Primary Doctors get furious if you refer their patients to other people without discussing your plans with them or deferring to their choices for specialists Make follow up calls to patients to see how they are doing. Patients love this and appreciate this. Hire friendly, warm, and welcoming staff. Your medical practice will shrink rapidly if your staff is rude, inefficient, unfriendly, or just plain mean. Take your time with patients. Patients who feel rushed will not refer you repeat customers. Don’t make patients wait. Waits over 20 minutes for you will adversely affect your practice. Call patients with lab and imaging results in a timely fashion. Take all emergencies extremely seriously. Always answer emergency calls promptly. If patients are suffering and you are not there for them, they will never come to see you again. If you are there for patients in times of an emergency and go above and beyond for them—they will refer the world to you. Give lectures. A great way to assert your authority and credibility in your specialty. Appear on radio or TV. Even a brief TV appearance or radio segment is a SENSATIONAL practice booster. Do not clutter your schedule with dozens of contract patients just to keep busy. Don’t feel tempted to sign up for rock bottom paying medical contracts that value volume over quality of care. That won’t help grow your practice. It is more important to see three patients a day and give them quality exams than 25 patients and rush through them in terms of building your practice. Listen very closely to patients, engage with them, and remember their non-medical and medical histories. Patients who feel that you don’t care and don’t remember the details of their lives will bolt. Before and after pictures. Get photos showing the amazing results of any medical procedures you may perform. Build a professional website with strong testimonials (celebrity testimonials are some of the best practice boosters). Refer patients to specialists who you know are the most competent people, not just to your friends or family. Always take excellent care of your physician patients. If your physician patients are happy with the care you provide them, they will send their entire practice to you. If they are not happy with your care, you have just lost their trust and referrals. Doctors have extremely difficult jobs, and so as colleagues, you need to respect their time, financial limitations, and scheduling constraints. Courtesy might just mean extending your office hours by an extra hour or two to see physician colleagues to accommodate their busy schedules or offering to send them a sample of medication that they don’t have time to get from the pharmacy. But doctors, remember not to give any kind of kickbacks—financial or other–for referrals. That will land you in jail! It is hard enough to find desirable doctor jobs. It is also hard enough to establish your own medical business from scratch. Start implementing the top 20 tips for growing your medical practice today and you will see your medical career skyrocket. Source
