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Improving Practice Health - Using Social and New Media Tools to Improve Practice Management

A majority of physicians’ offices are run as small businesses and are extremely sensitive to economic pressures.  With the US economy in the midst of a recession, physicians, right along with everyone else, are facing financial difficulties.

We feel the crunch at my practice in Northern Virginia, and are actively searching for practical solutions to improve office efficiency and increase revenue.  As physicians across the country struggle in a similar search, I have paid attention to the suggestions many have shared in their discussions on Ozmosis, and other sources like Twitter.  Of particular interest are the Social Media or Health 2.0 solutions (generally readily accessible and inexpensive) that offer promise in improving the bottom line quickly and effectively.

Of the available suggestions, I feel the following have the most value, or have been implemented into practices with some measure of success.

Marketing Solutions to Recruit Patients

1. Start a practice Blog - This is a marketing and practice growth tool.  It can help increase your visibility in the community and improve your communication of services to existing and new patients. 2. Create a Facebook page - A form of social marketing, Facebook can increase your reach as well as advertise existing and new services in your practice. 3. Send practice updates through Twitter - Keep patients informed of practice specific events (flu shots, physicals, etc) and increase your practice visibility. Maximize Revenue and Reduce Operating Costs

2. Extend practice services to the Web - such as online scheduling with ZocDoc (available only in NYC for now) and automated patient appointment call reminders with PhoneTree. 2. Provide online lab results to your patients - Using services like Quest360 or use your EMR's patient based portal - this may allow you to reduce or re-purpose your current staff.

3. Move to a Web-Centric or Concierge practice - Consider a practice solution like Myca or converting to a Micro-Practice or concierge service.

Since we are in this together, I wanted to offer everyone a chance to share our thoughts on potential solutions.  The interactive survey below provides real-time results, so please take a few moments to add your input.

This nifty widget will allow us to track which ideas rise to the top and display real-time results.  I would treat a Thumbs-Up as a 'Yes I would', a Negative as a 'No Way!' and don't mark it either way if you are ambivalent.  You can read comments or add your own to any of the suggestions and see more details by clicking on the title.  (there may be more than one page of suggestions)  You can also add your own suggestion by clicking the 'Add a Suggestion' button!
 

Thanks for participating, and check back to see how the results pan out!


Jason Bhan, MD
Co-Founder, Ozmosis