- Medical practices must take all reasonable measures to maximize revenue in a field with growing competition
Running a medical practice has presented a number of new challenges over the last year. There were some practices that were deemed unessential which led to massive layoffs in some health niches. The dental industry was one that was ravaged with job loss only to see a big job recovery once procedures not deemed an emergency were able to be fixed. Maximizing revenue throughout the entire year is important as having lulls in revenue can turn certain months/seasons into struggles financially. The following are tools that you can use to maximize revenue at your practice throughout the year.
Patient Satisfaction Surveys
Regardless of your type of practice, there needs to be a focus on the patient. There are certain areas that are still struggling due to the pandemic. The lack of funds that a number of people have are resulting in less spending on healthcare. The patient satisfaction surveys that are filled out can create an excellent baseline for improvement. You might see a focused effort result in much higher scores the next time the survey is sent out.
Certain patients will be overly critical so it is important to not take every single negative comment to heart in the surveys. There can even be questions about additional services that they would like to see offered. Patient satisfaction surveys are extremely easy and inexpensive to create but the data they gather can be invaluable.
Automated Appointment Reminders and Scheduling
There are always going to be people that delay an appointment for months as they don’t want to see a medical professional or simply forget. These reminders can cut down on missed appointments and keep the schedule full. This can also give a reasonable estimate of how many additional patients can be taken on with your current staff.
Returning patients should have a few options to schedule their appointments. Not everyone has time to wait on hold during the hours that a medical practice is usually open. New patients should have less options when it comes to scheduling appointments as you do not want days filled with people failing to make their appointments.
Additional Services to Add Addiction Streams of Revenue
A center that increases revenue that provides urgent care can be done in a variety of ways. Add OccMed to urgent care so workplace injuries can be assessed and treated. Urgent care facilities see drops in patients during certain seasons as the flu is not as prevalent. Additional services added to any type of practice can increase revenue as long as it doesn’t impact the quality of care in other areas.
Telehealth was not widely adopted by the common person in the past. In today’s world, there are so many people that have done a virtual medical appointment that wouldn’t have happened if it were not for COVID-19. The convenience that telehealth can provide a patient allows a doctor to see more patients throughout the day. Telehealth has increased the quality of care in some circumstances as patient monitoring can help detect any issues that could be developing. Marketing these new services should be done efficiently as patients should know about these before they come to the office. Most people have a set amount of money they want to spend but this can change if a new service appeals to them.
Ramping Up Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is more important than ever before for medical practices of all kinds. There is likely to be competition within a city between practices. The importance of ranking at the top of search results increases as an area is saturated by specialists of a certain kind. The ability to rank at the top of search engines while having positive patient reviews generated is a recipe for success. There are companies that specialize in marketing for dental or plastic surgery practices. Enlisting the help of these professionals can really unlock the power of digital marketing. Look at the results these companies have generated as these will tell the quality of their work.
Maximizing revenue at any type of business is going to present a number of challenges. Consistently grow revenue over time and avoid making radical changes to try to ramp up revenue too quickly. The last thing you want to do is alienate your current patients.