Marketing for

Healthcare Providers
A Primer for the Digital Age
2013

Presented By

Abstract
The Internet has fundamentally redefined how Americans
connect with physicians. In this white paper, ZocDoc
draws on recent studies and expertise from digital
healthcare leaders to interpret these changes. We
provide a vendor evaluation document and an interactive
return-on-investment calculator (see Appendices A and
B) to help healthcare providers determine the optimal
marketing mix for their practices. We illustrate the costs
and benefits of social media platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, and detail best practices
when appropriate. A method for obtaining positive
reviews and attenuating negative reviews is described;
it is demonstrated that an average 37 percent increase
in appointments results from each half-star improvement
to a providers online rating profile. We close by outlining
the patient satisfaction and loyalty healthcare providers
can accrue by offering online booking and related
transactional services, which are preferred by 81 percent
of consumers.

Introduction
Of the 74 percent of American adults with access to the
Internet, 80 percent now say theyve tapped it to research
a health topic, according to recent data from the Pew
Foundation. The latest such report released in November
2012 found that among those who own a smartphone,
over half have used it for health-related purposes. Other
survey results from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC)
show that a full third of all US consumers now trust not
only the Internet but specifically social media to obtain
healthcare information, discuss symptoms and care, and
share feedback about their physicians. These statistics are
compelling evidence that we have entered the age of the
ePatient, when consumers prefer to make and manage
their healthcare decisions online and (increasingly) on
mobile devices.

For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

US physicians, for their part, now spend an average of 11

hours a week on the Internet for professional purposes
alone, and 39 percent of them communicate with their
patients online, according to a 2012 study by the global
analysis and advisory firm Manhattan Research. Already,
60 percent of doctors nationwide say social media
improves the quality of care delivered to patients, the
Journal of Medical Research reports. Judging purely by
the numbers, the eDoctor isnt far behind the ePatient.
The ways healthcare providers connect and interact with
patients have changed dramatically and rapidly. How to
appropriately reallocate time and financial expenditure to
reflect this shift can be a challenge to determine. Divided
into five parts, this whitepaper illustrates how to select
profitable marketing channels, Internet and social media
best practices, reputation management, improving online
communication and accessibility, and essential strategy
questions. ZocDoc has consulted key thought leaders
and industry experts to create this roadmap for best
positioning your practice and sustaining positive and
effective patient relationships.

started
1 Getting
How will you engage?
One of the interesting perspectives to take is whether a
public presence is even a choice for physicians anymore,
says Bryan Vartabedian, MD, co-founder of the Medical
Futures Lab, a collaboration of Rice University, Baylor
College of Medicine, and the University of Texas Health
Science Center. With the Internet, if you dont create
what people see about you, want it or not, you can bet
that someone else will. The proliferation of online patient
communities and healthcare conversations on social
media bears this out.
In 2009, Google conducted a survey that showed that
the Internet had already surpassed all other sources
as the top resource for health questions. Just last year,
the companys healthcare-related searches grew by 47
percent. Moreover, while word of mouth still ranks high
on patients lists for choosing their healthcare providers,
For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

it appears the medium has changed: 41 percent now

say social media would affect their choice of a specific
doctor, hospital, or medical facility, according to data from
PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute.
If you engage, the reward can be great. Were at a point
when people have unprecedented access to content,
says Vartabedian. Now, when new patients come to see
me, so many have read what Ive written online. Indeed,
the PWC study also found that 65 percent of all patients
say they value online and mobile exchanges of healthcare
information, with younger patients in particular putting
especially high stock in wellness tips they can get on
their phones and clear explanations of benefits.

Click here or proceed to

Appendix B to determine
the marketing channel
which will deliver the best
ROI for your practice.

Within the vast, dizzying trove of video streaming, social

media, and website options, how do you prioritize?
And how can you strike the right balance between old
and new? Print and other forms of traditional media
remain highly relevant, even today, says Joseph Kim,
MD, MPH, a digital strategist and entrepreneur, and
founder of NonClinicalJobs.com. Theyre still a valid, if
expensive, form of reinforcing your message. With this
in mind, in what ways does one balance costs incurred
for larger efforts like building a practice site with other
longstanding marketing expenses, such as advertising in
a local paper, for example?
Dont try to do everything, says Lee Aase, director of the
Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. For each provider,
there are things that make sense based on specialty and
goals. To help you build and budget a marketing strategy
tailored to your practice, weve developed a return on
investment (ROI) calculator (see Appendix B).

Factor in time, motivation, and patient type.

Were options limited to traditional media (which typically
require a one-time investment of time and resources),
math calculations alone might provide reliable ROI
estimates. However, while many online alternatives are
low-cost and easy to set up with no outside help, they
can also be time-consuming to maintain. For these, its
important to consider how much youre willing to do by
yourself, and whether youre open to outsourcing. In many
cases, such as certain social media, success depends on
being able to consistently update, says Bunny Ellerin,
senior vice president at the healthcare professional
strategy firm Intouch Solutions and president of the
non-profit NYC Health Business Leaders. One way to
assess the degree to which youll engage is to think
about how much you like or feel comfortable with the
approach, and consider this alongside how good you are
at stealing bits and pieces of time throughout the day.
As you refine your strategy, you may want to reassess
the ROI of available marketing channels to account for
the earnings per hour you are sacrificing.
Theres so much to choose from out there, as physicians
we want to make sure were making decisions that
minimize physician burnout so we can actually improve
the care we give, says Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, a
pediatrician and widely read physician blogger for Seattle
Childrens Hospital. These are more than business tools.
I see them as the future of care delivery. To Swansons
point, over the past few years, trust in online health
resources has increased by 44 percent, Google data
shows. Eighty-eight percent of Americans caring for a
loved one now turn to the Internet for health information,
according to the Pew Foundation.
People go online for everything else. Why wouldnt they
for healthcare? says patient engagement commentator
Dave deBronkart, who often writes under the name
e-Patient Dave. As such, consumers needs change
depending on the kind of treatments theyre seeking.
A few examples: Acute cases require optimization for
getting patients to physicians quickly, something that
online resources such as emergency service apps or
appointment booking sites can be especially good at.
For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

Elective procedures, by contrast, put quality and cost at a

premium, so they benefit from clear, in-depth information
(like blog posts, a comprehensive practice website, etc.)
and in-depth endorsements (a detailed review on a rating
site, or a social media post from a satisfied patient).
Individuals with high-deductible insurance plans tend to
have more capital to spend on technology, so optimizing
for services that can be read or used on smartphones
and tablets is a good strategy for that demographic.
This translates to sustained doctor-patient relationships.
According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, patients who engaged
with their physicians online also averaged more office
visits. When consumers are more involved in their
wellness, as they are when they have digital access
to care and physicians, they become more successful
patients, says Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, a health economist
and management consultant for the healthcare industry.
They tend to match better with the doctors they choose
and this results in more treatment compliance and
longer-term relationships with their provider. In other
words, what were all pushing for in the first place.

When it comes to disruption,

physicians are very much
incrementalists. As we find our
voices online it might best be
described as curators,
not gatekeepers.
Kevin Pho, MD, founder and editor of
KevinMD.com

online now
2 Being
Web and social media best practices.
Near the end of 2012, Pfizer released a survey
showing that one in four US doctors uses social media
professionally every day. According to Manhattan
4

Research, 85 percent of physicians now own and use a

smartphone for work, and 60 percent say they either use
or would like to use social networking to engage with
patients and enhance their reputation.
If you want to connect with new and existing patients,
its happening on the Internet. The challenge is that
physicians arent taught public relations, and because
Google doesnt know the difference between good and
bad content, PR is whats needed, says
Val Jones, MD, CEO of Better Health, an
online health education website focused
on medical blogging. For doctors, people
who have spent years in training to get to
the truth of things, the experience of being
drowned out by content thats factually
inaccurate is jarring.
Jones and others argue that this
abundance of misinformation, however, is
a key reason that its so important to bring
physicians into the online conversation.
Indeed, one recent survey found that
on the web, as in real-life, patients trust
health-related content from doctors more
than they do other patients (be they
friends or strangers), nurses, or hospitals.
Says Swanson, The Internet offers an
opportunity for physicians to communicate
in a one-to-many format, as opposed to
a one-to-one. Doctors have always been
curators of information. Now, the needle is
shifting so we have the opportunity to do
this in a way that reaches more people. What follows is
a deep dive into the fundamental tools for the process.

Websites
Your online presence starts with a platform and an
identity, says Howard Luks, MD, a Westchester, NY,
orthopedic surgeon who writes about the intersection of
healthcare and social media. It should be somewhere
patients can look for key information. If youre part of a
hospital or a larger practice, you may already have a page
on that organizations website. In addition, companies like
For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

LinkedIn and about.me enable users to create simple,

personalized profile pages. And increasingly, online
services among them doctor-patient Q&A forums and
appointment booking sites enable physicians to set up
profile pages that can function as de facto
personal websites.
In each of these contexts, value increases with specificity.
It neednt be a whole stack of marketing. What you need
to give is real information, says Joan Justice,
an independent healthcare marketing
manager and curator of the independent
content site HealthWorks Collective.
Patients want to know who you are, where
you went to school, what procedures you
specialize in, what insurances you accept,
and how to reach you. More broadly, they
want a biography, something about your
practice, and a photograph to connect with.
Especially if you run your own practice or
if you want to generate content, theres a
benefit to having a website of your own. Its
a place to consolidate your social media and
practice management presence with links
to the sites you participate in, to give people
deep information about what you do and
how to engage, and also deliver longform information.
Meaningful content on your site, including
blog posts; information about your practice
and the procedures you perform; and even
articles youve published elsewhere will help your page
rank high in a Web search by providing consumers with
a motivation to visit and stay on your page. This search
engine optimization (SEO) gives search engines a reason
to direct traffic your way. (You can help the process along
by tagging content with relevant terms.)
Its where online and real-world dovetail, says Luks.
Just like in an office, I have people on my site who are 12
and others who are 85. Some patients like to read short
tidbits, others want more information, and still others
5

Core Online Practices:

Four Key Points
Patients want to go to a doctor whos done
a lot of what they have. If you need a knee
replacement, you dont want a doctor who has
done two, you want someone with targeted
expertise. On your site, be sure to highlight
what you do best, and if possible underscore
it with numbers.
Joan Justice, curator of HealthWorks
Collective

Its important to have common branding,

meaning keeping your username consistent
across platforms. You want to use your first
and last name, since thats what patients will
search, and follow that with MD, to denote
your credibility. With Twitter, of course, youre
limited, so you may need to improvise. And
you want a good biography. Patients want to
know who you are, so include it whenever
you can.
Lee Aase, Director of the Mayo Clinic
Center for Social Media

Search engine giants like Google are

constantly changing their search ranking
algorithms and are penalizing for paid artificial
inbound links. High-quality content leads to
a growing base of engaged users, and thats
what you ultimately need for robust SEO.
Doctors need to remember to pick specific
phrases as keywords and to focus less on
broad-based buzzwords that may apply to
many things.
Joseph Kim, MD, MPH, founder, chief
editor, and physician career coach at
NonClinicalJobs.com

In my view, there remains a role traditional

media outlets like print, television, and radio.
Social media platforms like Facebook and
Twitter, for example, can be used to crosspromote traditional media projects, and vice
versa. A Twitter handle that accompanies your
name in a newspaper article or on a television
show has tremendous reach; it travels far
beyond your own degrees of separation.
Michael Sevilla, MD, founder of
FamilyMedicineRocks.com

For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

want videos. Simply by offering content in a few different

formats, I can connect with a range of patient types.

Networking/Content sites
At heart, sites like Twitter and Facebook are a way to
connect with colleagues and patients. One October
2012 study published in the Journal of Internet Research
surveyed 485 oncologists and primary care physicians,
finding that 85 percent now use social media on a weekly
basis both to share and take in content and information.
When I talk to doctors about getting online, I always
stress the value of consuming information as well as
creating it, says Kevin Pho, MD, founder and editor of
Medpage Todays healthcare content blog, KevinMD.com.
Connecting is a two-way street, and we need both sides
to stay relevant.
In addition to broadening reach and exposure, social
media sites can help support online reputation. One of
the things that I think is under-appreciated is the weight
that networking platforms can have in SEO, says Aase.
Creating a Twitter, a LinkedIn these things naturally
rise to the top. They can outweigh the fact that you got
zero stars on Yelp or Angies List for being late for an
appointment three years ago, and thats an important
defensive application.
Twitter
Engage new patients and forge professional
connections with this rapid-fire platform, which
requires small bursts of time for consuming
and sharing information in short (140 character
maximum) posts.
How to use it: By scrolling your feed, or searching
keywords, its easy to extrapolate whats current and what
patients want now. If, for example, you notice several
questions or conversation threads about a treatment
you happen to perform, you can increase your posts and
engage in more conversations on related topics as well
as make changes in your practice to meet those needs
and draw that business. We used Twitter when H1N1
broke and we had extra vaccine, says Jones. We were
able to tweet that out to our followers, and quickly match

supply with demand.

Best practice: In February 2011, the Journal of the
American Medical Association analyzed the Twitter
habits of 260 self-identified doctors with at least 500
followers. A full half of the tweets were about health or
medicine, and just 12% were self-promotion. To build
a following, you have to give patients and colleagues
tweets that provide value, says Patricia Salber, MD,
founder and host of the content sites The Doctor Weighs
In and HealthTechHatch.com. People want to learn
things more than be marketed to, so an example of a
good practice is linking to articles they might
have missed.

Google Places ranks high on

every Google search, so be sure
to claim your business on the
site. Its free and once youve
claimed it, you can make sure
the address is accurate, add
hours, photos, and
phone numbers.
Howard Luks, MD, physician and
social media strategy advisor

Facebook
Build your brand and keep existing patients actively
engaged with this social nexus for sharing both
long and short content.
How to use it: Give prospective patients a deeper look
at who you are, and maintain strong ties to consumers
and colleagues. For example: If you look at Toyota ads,
theyre bringing users to a Facebook page, not an actual
website, says Vartabedian. Theyre capitalizing on the
sense of relevance and community that comes from
streaming content thats all about your product. Because
Facebook connections tend to have more social roots
(family members, high school friends, etc.), its advisable
to avoid connecting with patients on your personal
page and to maintain strong privacy settings. However,
For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

a fan page for your practice can offer wide reach, the
opportunity to write or share posts that can go directly
into your followers Facebook feeds, and a landing page
that if you encourage others to post on your wall
appears dynamic.
Best practice: On your page, include a biography or
company profile, and links to your website and your core
social media, networking, and appointment-booking sites.
As for posts, aim for a mix of important company news,
links to your writing, and articles or news items that you
think would be valuable or interesting to your followers
and also connect to how you see yourself and your brand.
Worth noting: We tend to assume that the content we
post on Facebook makes it into all our contacts streams,
but the reality, according to its marketing team, is that
only about 30 percent of your followers will be party to
any given post. Therefore, they say, aim for at least three
posts a week to maximize reach and when you have a
particularly important piece of news, ask a friend or two
to re-post.

Top Social Media

Influencers in Medicine
Klout.com incorporates over 400 different
signals from seven different networks to
score social media influence.
Klouts top doctors in 2012:
1. Kevin Pho, MD
@kevinmd
2. Elmar Breitbach, Dr.med.
@elmarbreitbach
3. Ves Dimov, MD
@DrVes
4. Hisham Rana, MD
@hrana
5. Albert Einstein College of Medicine
@einsteinmed

LinkedIn
Connect with colleagues for job opportunities and
potential referrals by establishing an online resume
on the worlds largest professional networking site.
How to use it: Provide professional information in a
format thats easy to access and understand. These
days, if youre not on LinkedIn, I always wonder why,
says Salber. Connecting with other MDs here can lead
to future patient referrals or job opportunities, so engage
within the site.
Best practice: Take advantage of LinkedIns strong
SEO and make your profile public and rich. Filling out
the summary portion at the top of your profile, and
using good keywords that apply to your practice will
strengthen not just how you show up on searches, but
also the relevance of the connections this leads to. Many
professional organizations now have groups you can join
(some of which require verification, which is good for
your online credibility).
YouTube/Video
Attract new patients by establishing credibility and
character with searchable, easy-to-produce videos.
How to use it: I have both a YouTube channel and a
website, and I upload the same videos on both, says
Luks. Among them are everything from a welcome video
to posts on the conditions I most treat. What Ive found is
that this helps patients to get past any jitters they might
have and to start feeling comfortable with me as their
physician before we even meet. For this reason, doctors
and hospitals are also using the medium to share or
reiterate important information normally delivered during
an appointment, cutting down on general questions and
creating more time for personalized ones.
Best practice: I encourage people to make videos to
introduce themselves and talk about their expertise,
says Aase. Its humanizing, easy for patients to consume,
and creates an instant rapport. When outlining what you
want to say, always consider your audience and optimize
for clarity, avoiding complicated medical terms.

For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

Online outsourcing:
three ways to save
yourself some time
Theres nothing wrong with hiring
people to help you, says Patricia
Salber, MD, founder of The Doctor
Weighs In. Its not that you cant
learn it, but in some cases time
and bandwidth are limited or better
allocated elsewhere. Website
designers are just the tip of the
iceberg. Consider these three
additional ways to outsource:
Social Media Manager: Often what you
need is just someone part-time to monitor
your pages and push out tweets and posts,
and that doesnt have to be expensive, says
Bunny Ellerin, president of NYC Health
Business Leaders. Even just outsourcing for
an hour a day to someone whos keeping up
with trends and conversations can give you
an edge.
Videographer: Often people conflate video
with high cost, but that isnt necessarily
the case anymore. You dont really need
a team of people, says Salber. Hiring just
one person who has some knowledge of
how best to set things up is often enough to
get you started. Sites like smartshoot.com
connect freelancers to clients at a budget
you yourself determine.
Marketing strategist: Social media sites
are just one sliver of your overall marketing
presence, notes Ellerin. Youve got your
website. Youve got appointment stuff.
Youve got customer relations and referral
marketing. The common thread is that
marketing people, too, have to be really
digitally savvy. Today, she says, whomever
you hire needs to know at least as much
about search functions and how people
search for a practice or doctor as they do
direct marketing and reminder cards.

your presence
3 Owning
Review sites and reputation management.
Over 70 percent of consumers worldwide trust online
reviews, according to a 2012 Nielsen study. For
comparison, only 47 percent have faith in traditional
broadcast and print, the research firm found. Indeed,
confidence in the veracity of TV, newspaper, and
magazine ads has fallen 24 percent, 20 percent, and 25
percent respectively. Meanwhile, according to a recent
survey by the expert advice broker Avvo.com, over 60
percent of respondents cite patient reviews as a primary
influencer when selecting a new doctor online.
One need look no further than the myriad online physician
review sites (RateMDs.com has, for instance, over a
million ratings) to see evidence of how the practice has
taken hold. Word-of-mouth recommendations have
always been the most impactful and meaningful form
of advertising, says Reed Smith, founder of the Social
Health Institute and an advisory board member at both
SXSW Interactive and the Mayo Clinic Center for Social
Media. People trust their ability to research online, so its
not really surprising that this translates.

Open versus closed review systems:

Which wins the stars war?
The term closed-loop review system refers
to sites where only verified patients can leave
a review. Open-loop systems are available to
anyone, effectively enabling anonymous posts
by patients who need not use their real names.
According to our own analysis, 84 percent
of reviews on closed sites give physicians
the highest score possible, compared to 65
percent of reviews on open-loop sites. Why
are ratings higher on closed-loop sites? We
believe that open-loop sites attract outliers
who have had negative experiences and are
just looking for a place to vent. Closed-loop
sites (especially if they actively solicit reviews
from all users) tend to be more representative,
says Oliver Kharraz, MD, the COO and
founder of ZocDoc.

For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

Should you claim your profiles on listing

and review sites?
Claiming your profile on a doctor review site can be
worthwhile if the site has strong traffic and high credibility.
Some of these services draw your profile information
from public databases which may contain old contact
information; ignoring errors can therefore allow outdated
addresses to outrank your current one.
On the other hand, feeding additional content to these
sites (for example, by responding to a negative review or
uploading a current photo) will give your profile credence
with search engines and can actually spread negative
or suspect content. Maintaining a profile can require
work and vigilance, so proceed with caution and only
claim a profile that you can maintain indefinitely.

How do negative reviews on high-profile

sites affect you?
Recently, the Journal of Medical Internet Research
studied nearly 5,000 physician reviews, finding that the
vast majority were not just favorable, but tended to be the
equivalent of a full four out of five stars. This suggests
that theres safety in numbers--and clusters. The more
reviews you receive on one site, the more statistically
likely it is that your aggregate score will be favorable.
The same logic can be applied to written reviews, as
increasing your total number can help contextualize the
occasional negative comment.
When considering your online reviews, it is important to
distinguish between closed-loop rating sites (which
screen your reviewers to ensure they are actual patients)
and open-loop rating sites, which allow anyone to
comment. One of the major complaints leveraged against
review sites is that so few of them are closed-loop. My
general impression is that its a good thing for everyone
to get rated on everything that they do. However, the fact
that so many people post anonymously puts believability
into question, says deBronkart. People have always
talked about how its easy to game the system that way.
On open-loop review sites, competing practices can
plant negative reviews, or bump up their own ratings with
9

fabricated positive ones. Anonymous online opinions of

physicians should be taken with grain of salt and should
not be a patients sole source of information when looking
for a new physician, is how Robert Mills, a spokesperson
for the American Medical Association, conveyed the
organizations stance to the New York Times.
Fortunately, while reviews are a powerful factor in online
patient behavior, doctors who fear that a few pieces of
negative feedback could poison their reputations are
mistaken. In a recent study, the ZocDoc data analysis
team found that patients were no less likely to book
appointments with doctors who have received a few
negative reviews than with their counterparts. (And in
fact, of the 10 percent of doctors who receive the most
appointments through ZocDoc, about three fourths have
at least one negative review.) Only when a providers
overall rating falls to 2.5 stars or less do patients book
precipitously fewer appointments with that provider.
That said, patients show a consistent preference for
physicians with higher ratings. In fact, ZocDoc found
that every half-star improvement in overall score was
accompanied by a 37 percent increase in appointments
booked. The upshot for providers seeking to enhance
their credibility with patients is to solicit more reviews.
Consumers are getting smarter about how to interpret
user feedback, says Jones. If you have a lot of people
posting positive things and one person saying something
bad, theres an understanding that this individual is
an outlier.

How to build goodwill and avert the ill.

A recent study conducted by economists Michael
Anderson and Jeremy Magruder of the University of
California Berkley concluded that a half-star improvement
in an online review can drive 30-49 percent more local
traffic. A doctors willingness to listen, answer questions,
and explain conditions was the top factor cited in 43
percent of positive online patient reviews in the Avvo.
com survey. I always give the example that any airline
can lose your luggage, but then its how they handle it,
says Justice. Do they give you access to a real person?
Does that person let you know theyre sympathetic and
For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

prepared to help? Theres a way to turn these situations

into a chance to show just how great your business is.

Faith in Mobile Health

According to a recent Pfizer study, roughly
one-half of consumers predict that within
the next three years, mHealth will improve
the convenience, cost, and quality of their
healthcare. Asked for their top three reasons
for wanting to access these services through
their mobile devices (mHealth), they said
they wanted more convenient access to their
doctor or healthcare provider, a reduction
of out-of-pocket healthcare costs, and to
take greater control over their health. Among
physicians, the same report showed that the
majority felt mHealth helped them deliver a
higher quality of care to patients.

On review sites:
1. Post your photo and include a rich professional
statement: Consumers are on these sites looking for
information, so the best thing you can do is provide
it, says Smith. Let people know how they can reach
you, and also information about your practice (what
you specialize in, how you trained, awards youve
won, etc.).
2. Think of all feedback as a way to show integrity:
Its understood that there will always be a certain
percentage of consumers who wont like anything
anyone does. In this way, a few less-than-perfect
ratings or two can make you human and relatable,
and render all your strongly positive comments more
believable. I myself have started publishing on my
website every word of feedback, good and bad, that
I get from my speeches, says deBronkart. It lets
people know that the praise you get is real.
3. When appropriate, respond to negative comments:
Be discriminating. If someone seems like theyre out
to pick a fight, dont engage. But if the complaint
appears sincere or can be fixed, consider reaching
out to the patient. Many unhappy patients will take
10

down or retract negative reviews once their problems

have been addressed.
In your practice:
1. Create staff protocol on how to treat patients and
handle complaints: Especially when training new
employees, you can prevent problems from occurring
in the first place. Create guidelines to demonstrate
clearly how staff should communicate with
your patients.
2. Minimize wait times by fixing efficiency bottlenecks:
Studies show that patients tend to be most satisfied
when they spend more than ten minutes with their
doctor, and that wait times (predictably) rank high on
the dissatisfaction list. Do an office assessment to
determine where things may be slowing down and
experiment with efficiency tools (online intake forms
or offering appointment confirmation by text or email,
for instance) to correct them.
3. Have an on-site point person for complaints: In our
practice, we have a staff member who has actually
gone through HR training for patient complaints,
says Luks. We have a comfortable room off of
the examining area, and if someone expresses
dissatisfaction, they have an immediate outlet
for grievances.
4. Make yourself reachable directly and privately: Being
out there and being helpful plays a large role in how
youre perceived as a provider, says Aase. Be sure
that patients have an email and telephone number
they can use for questions and comments after
they leave.
5. Let patients know that you welcome good feedback:
Highlight positive reviews on your website, or through
the occasional tweet.
6. If a complaint is repeated by several users, use it to
improve your practice: See if theres a way to adjust
your practice flow to meet the need being expressed,
or to reframe how you present your business before
the fact to better manage expectations.

For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

Bottlenecks by the Numbers

In 2011, the medical portal site Intuit Health
published a report based on data it had
assembled on practice efficiency. Some of its
findings: Of health care providers who do not
offer an online communication solution, one
in four reports that it is difficult for patients
to reach the office to ask questions, make
appointments, or receive lab results. Nearly half
say their practices are running between 30 and
60 minutes behind schedule, and one-third add
that staff members currently spend three or
more hours each day trying to reach patients to
communicate follow-up information.

The power of
4 accessibility

Turning it all into patient connections.

Ninety percent of patients cite the Internet as their

preferred channel for managing and accessing
information about existing health conditions, according
to a 2012 Accenture survey. More directly, the report
showed that a full 72 percent want to book, change, or
cancel appointments online; 64 percent want to request
prescription refills by email; and 88 percent want to
receive email reminders when its time for a preventive
or follow-up appointment. A separate survey from Intuit
Health documented even higher figures: 81 percent of
patients say they would like to schedule appointments
and fill out registration forms online, with 59 percent of
Gen Y and 29 percent of Baby Boomers adding that
theyd consider switching providers in order to take
advantage of such services.
The future is without question person-centered
healthcare, says Justice. With rising healthcare costs
and fewer doctors and resources to go around, people
are charged with taking a more active role in their own
healthcare experience. Theyre thinking about value,
11

efficiency, and access. Theres enough information online

now that the change has already begun.

Contact: the reachability question

From a patient perspective, doctors fail when they dont
maintain or at least enable an ongoing connection, says
Ellerin. Moving forward, theres a real patient-driven call
for practices to expand in this regard.
Indeed, 76 percent of patients now want email access
to their healthcare provider, according to the Accenture
study. There are a number of ways to get things
integrated into your practice, says Sarasohn-Kahn. It
could be you, or it might be a person like an administrator
at the frontline or both. Given how much time is spent
with office staff members, offering access to more than
one person not only frees up doctors time but can make
patients feel better cared-for.

Online booking and transactions: making

the process more efficient
Consumers are living out their lives online now, says
Sarasohn-Kahn. Most people are managing financial
services online, theyre developing photos online,
theyre making travel arrangements online. They want
and expect the same level of control and convenience
from their healthcare. Simultaneously, as the price of
co-pays has risen, as more people are signing onto
higher deductible plans, and as therapies become more
targeted and expensive, consumers are paying more
out of pocket and the health dollar is perceived as more
precious. In this era of accountable care, doctors will
increasingly be competing for business, she explains.
It can deeply benefit physicians to offer various online
retail-oriented transactions that provide value, like
scheduling appointments, taking care of the copayment,
or helping patients with the administrative tasks.

with pharmacists by phone is reduced).

Online booking, too, has benefits: Its emerging as a real
value-add, says Justice. No one enjoys having to find
time in the workday to call a doctors office and getting
put on hold. And even when you do reach someone, you
dont know which appointments are available. Booking
on a website or through an app, you can see times and
do it day or night. Its convenient, and lets patients feel
in-control.

Information and decision aids: Enabling

patients to assess value
This paper has cited numerous studies showing that the
majority of patients with access to the Internet use it to
find health information. In this era, data is everything,
says Justice. You want to cover all the basics: Content
about the procedures you offer, where you trained, what a
typical office experience would be like, how to pay, whom
they can contact with more questions. Not only do these
approaches build trust, but they also reduce the amount
of time devoted to rote subjects, leaving more room to
personalize and give substance to the actual office visit.
These benefits can extend well beyond the appointment
itself. For example, by referring patients to recommended
videos and articles after a visit, certain broad follow up
questions may answer themselves, leaving room for
more targeted ones. Standard follow-up emails with
important details and referral information can save
both patients and administrators valuable time. The
possible approaches are endless, says Aase. The real
key is being out there and being helpful. Increasingly, its
playing a key role in getting chosen as a provider.

E-prescribing, for example, is already a fast-growing

retail model in pharmacies. Its been lauded for helping to
improve patient safety (by eliminating prescribing errors
that result from illegible handwriting) and compliance (the
system is easy-to-adopt), and for improving efficiency at
physicians offices (time spent faxing and connecting
For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

12

Appendix A

Questions to ask a marketing or

social media vendor.
Marketing channels
1. What kind of ROI can I expect from your product?
2. What sort of growth curve can I expect? Will my
returns diminish or increase?
3. How crowded is the space? Is there an early-mover
advantage?
4. Do you enable direct ROI analyses? What tracking
mechanisms are in place?
5. What action does your channel prompt patients to
take? Is it direct and immediately actionable?
6. Has spending in this channel grown, shrunk, or
remained stagnant during the last decade? Is there
growing patient interest?
Social media
1. Can I use social media to augment your activities?
2. If I use social media to capture traffic, how will you
help me convert that traffic into real appointments?
Reputation management
1. Can you help me centralize and consolidate my
online presence?
2. Will you help me build up a cachet of positive
patient reviews, which are crucial for reputation
management?
3. If so, how will patients know these reviews are
authentic? Who can leave a review about me?
4. Will you help me instill trust in patients with proven
assets like a personal voice and professional
photography?
Accessibility
1. How will you help me prepare for changing patient
attitudes about healthcare access?
2. Can you strengthen my reputation and optimize my
patient experience by enabling online booking for
my practice?

For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

13

Appendix B

An Interactive ROI Calculator

1. Determine your potential earnings per new patient

Enter your revenue per patient

Your Patient
Lifetime Value

What is your gross income for an average appointment? We suggest $200.00

Enter your yearly visits per patient

$ 0.00

How many times per year do you see an average patient? We suggest 0.7

Enter your years per patient seen

For how many years does the average patient stay with your practice? We suggest 10

2. Compare your potential cost per expected

patient across marketing channels
Cost
Cost of a new campaign

# New Patients
# Of new patients expected

Cost Per New Patient

Cost Per New Patient

$ 3,000.00

15

$ 200.00

NOTE:

$ 10,000.00

24

$ 416.67

Mail

$ 5,000.00

35

$ 142.86

Digital

$ 3,000.00

50

These are our

suggestions.
Change these
numbers as
you see fit.

$ 60.00

Print
Broadcast

3. Identify the Highest ROI

Marketing Type

Lifetime Value

Marketing Cost

Marketing Cost

ROI

Print

( $ 0.00

- $ 200.00

) $ 200.00

0%

Broadcast

( $ 0.00

- $ 416.67

) $ 416.67

0%

Mail

( $ 0.00

- $ 142.86

) $ 142.86

0%

Digital

( $ 0.00

- $ 60.00

) $ 60.00

0%

For more white papers, visit TheDoctorBlog.com

14