Six marketing strategies for Ambulatory Surgery Centers

SIX MARKETING STRATEGIES & CASE STUDIES

FORSURGERY CENTERS

SPONSORED BY HEALTHCARE PIONEERS™ - WWW.HEALHCAREPIONEERS.COM

METHODOLOGY USED

Healthcare Marketing Center performed detailed market research over 11 years about patient behaviors how to choose doctors, and about how doctors refer patients to specialists. We used reports from 5,000 marketing campaigns that include data from call centers, website analytics, and feedback from doctors at over 350 local events.

WHAT DID WE FIND?Sponsored by Healthcare Pioneers™ - www.HealhcarePioneers.com

#1 PATIENTS & REFERRING PHYSICIAN BEHAVIORS

Patients and referring physicians were performing “background” checks about Doctors on Google:

In 2011, 10-15% of website traffic was diverted to Google (less than 2% diverted to physician-rating sites like Vitals, Healthgrades, etc)

In 2012 – 80% of website traffic was diverted to Google & Ratings sites after visiting websites (60% related to physician ratings)

Sponsored by Healthcare Pioneers™ - www.HealhcarePioneers.com

What does that mean?

That’s a change of 65% in a specific

behavior in less than 1 year!


Other Big AHA Moments

#2 Once a visitor Googled a doctor with at least one negative rating he/she was not coming back

#3 Ambulatory Surgery Center websites with a physician locator (with information about each doctor) got 90% more new patients than ASC’s that did not have physician locators.

#4 Surgery Center sites with links to doctors’

private sites outperformed ASCs with simple physician locators


FURTHER ANALYSIS

#5 ALL ROI from internet depended on doctors’ reputations when advertisements were about specific services (i.e. Knee Surgery)

When Ads ran for patient education and not procedures, the necessity of checking doctor’s ratings dropped by 90-95% because we were able to establish their EXPERTISE

#6 ALL ROI from radio depended on two factors: How educational the outreach was How far the patient had to travel

• ROI decreased by 90% for travel time over 10 min


Case Study #1

How one review can spell disaster for getting new patient volumes

Result: New surgical-patient volume dropped by 15 patients the following month


Solution - Case Study #1

Doctor invested in a Reputation Management Program

Within 7 weeks he was able to gather 55 reviews from his patients, and was able to settle one major complaint before it was ever published

He now dominates 2 first pages of Google results for his specialty, and 10 pages for his name.

Result, in 8 weeks his new surgical-patient volume increased by 9 patients per month – without spending ANY money on advertisements.


Case Study#2 – (Nationally Recognized ASC)

Googl’ing 40% of their doctors shows below average statistics:

This is what the public refers to as “background check”, and it’s not satisfactory.

Solution for Case Study#2 – (Nationally recognized Hospital)

20 doctors used Patient Kiosks (ipads) to gather patient feedback for internal purposes (not published)

Of the 350 reviews, 90 were not-satisfactoryFrom 90 reviews, 55 were directly aimed at the doctors,

even though they were not directly responsible. Quote: “I waited over 45 minutes for Dr. X”

Based on this patient satisfaction survey: Hospital hired a nurse-practitioner to assist in patient-flow through the center. This study cost the hospital only $120 per doctor over 2 months.


Case Study #3 - Patients recognize the “brand” but Google the doctor they want to

see

A big group practice ran Google advertising campaign for its 50 locations for 30 days specifically highlighting each doctor’s expertise. 40% of cases are treated in local Ambulatory Surgery Center.– Each doctor equally contributed to the cost. Patients were distributed according to specific geography.

Result: 200% increase in new appointments.

Previously the practice was promoting only the Brand


Case Study #4Increasing Out-of-Network patient volume

A 2 month advertising campaign for a 3-surgeon Orthopaedic practice resulted in 40 new patients, 5 of which were out-of-network

They followed up with a 1 month ad campaign (Radio & Internet) exclusively for the doctors’ reputations – patient reviews. (Average of 30 new reviews/doctor)

Result: 12 more new out-of-network patients ~$84,000 in surgeon fees (and an “undisclosed” amount for facility fees) vs. $4,500 ad campaign


ROI

Total Cost to Client - $4500

Total 2 month ROI=(profit-cost)/cost=

2111%


Reason for 2111% ROI

Patient Education about each doctor’s expertise

Example: Patient Education provided by Orthopedic Surgeon specialized in minimally

invasive knee surgery


Understand Patient Demographics

80% of people with $100,000+ income and within 24-45 age group Google their doctors before scheduling an appointment

They consider social media presence as a “must”

Why?

Because background checks matter to educated shoppers who pay out of pocket!


It’s about Patient Demographics

What are out-of-pocket expenses? Private Insurance Premiums Deductibles Copays HSA accounts (which are now $3250!!!) Cash-for-service And more!

Patients are willing to spend out of pocket money for: Fast access to great doctors Satisfaction & great experience


Take Aways:

Positive Reviews are more impactful if they are NOT anonymous.

Negative Reviews are ALWAYS deemed as “accurate” whether anonymous or not.

How to get more REAL reviews on public sites? What are the two places where Positive Reviews are never anonymous?

Find out by calling 646-648-1355


SUMMARY

1.Cut down advertising costs through Patient Education. Utilize radio, internet, and local events with referring doctors. Leverage physicians’ reputations not just brands alone.

2.Never underestimate the power of having satisfied and happy patients.

3.Don’t spend money on websites, ads, and social media without taking a close look at ROI on a regular basis.

4.Have Independent Marketing Companies perform an analysis on a regular basis. In most cases it’s FREE!Sponsored by Healthcare Pioneers™ - www.HealhcarePioneers.com

Do you need to review your marketing plan?Meet us at next Healthcare Pioneers™

events:

New York -June 26th

Philadelphia - July 9th – Healthcare Innovation Summit (get $600 discount by using code MDSTARTUP at registration) Boston - August 15th Chicago – September 18th

For more information go to www.HealthcarePioneers.com

Six marketing strategies for Ambulatory Surgery Centers

Health & Medicine

Transcript of Six marketing strategies for Ambulatory Surgery Centers