Conducting A Marketing Assessment Of Your Physician Practice

In beginning the marketing planning process, you first need to take an inventory of your current situation by conducting an internal marketing assessment. The assessment will provide the foundation from which you will be able to develop a systematic and comprehensive marketing plan. Ultimately that plan will include a historical perspective of the practice, the competitive landscape, key messages and strategies, unique differentiators, collateral needs, referral targets, PR and marketing activities, a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and specific goals going forward.


 Identify Key Differentiators, Referral Targets and Competitive Activity

As a first step in the marketing assessment, it will be beneficial to “interview” each of your physician providers, mid-levels and management team members to gain their perspective of your practice. The interviews will allow you to get their view on unique differentiators, SWOT, key messages, the competitive environment, marketing opportunities, relationships with referring physicians and referring physician targets and any barriers to referrals that might exist.

The information they provide will not only be useful to you but it will also give them a feeling of ownership in shaping the future message and initiatives of the practice. It is recommended that you send them in advance a questionnaire to consider and then conduct individual face-to-face meetings to get their input.

• What do you consider to be the unique differentiators of our practice?
• What do you see as the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) for our practice?
• What are the key messages / core values of the practice which should be communicated?
• Who do you consider to be our major competitor(s)?
• What marketing strategies and programs are our competitors using to promote their practice?
• Who do you think are key referral sources and referral targets that we should be visiting?
• Are there any previously good referral sources where a relationship no longer exists with our practice? What happened to the relationship? 
•  What positive and less than positive “perceptions” of our practice exist in the market

Evaluate Past Marketing Initiatives

In addition to gathering the previous information which will be integrated into the marketing plan, it is also important to honestly evaluate past marketing initiatives and determine specific needs going forward. Questions to consider in your evaluation: Have the activities been effective? What has been the return on investment? Have they generated new referrals? Have they created increased exposure and visibility in the community? Has it been an integrated process or solitary, non-cohesive events? Some areas to look at include:

Evaluating Past Marketing Initiatives

Program	Implemented (X)	Perceived Effectiveness	Continue / Discontinue
Print ads
TV commercials
Direct mail
Billboards
Speaking Engagements
Website enhancements
SEO
Internet marketing
Google AdWords
Sponsorships
Community outreach
CME programs
Thank you letters to referring MDs
Patient and physician satisfaction surveys
Yellow page ads
Patient email newsletters

Newspaper inserts
Referring MD  newsletter
Patient referral cards
Patient education seminars
Published articles
Physician bios
On hold messaging
Practice brochure
Patient info brochures
Services fact sheets
PR initiatives
Lunch and learns
Promo items
Social events
Direct marketing visits to referrers
Mystery patient
Radio ads
Association membership

Conduct A Referral Trend Analysis

In many cases, practices do not necessarily have a firm handle on referral trends. In general terms a practice might have a sense of who their top referral sources are but many do not consistently track referrals. So, unbeknown to the practice, a top referrer’s numbers might be significantly down from prior years because they are currently splitting referrals among different providers. Another key component of the marketing assessment is to conduct a referral trend analysis for the last two years in order to clearly see the referral picture. Some areas to quantify include:

• Total referrals by referring physician 2009 vs. 2010
• Total new consults by referring physician 2009 vs. 2010
• Total referrals and new consults by referring physician per location 2009 vs. 2010
• Total referrals and new consults by your MD providers 2009 vs. 2010
• Top referral sources by your MD providers 2009 vs. 2010
• Referring physician ancillary services referrals 2009 vs. 2010
• Ancillary services volumes 2009 vs. 2010
• Ancillary services volumes by location 2009 vs. 2010
• Total revenue performance vs. budget by location 2009 vs. 2010

The information you learn from this analysis will often be surprising yet will be critical in developing your marketing plan and strategy to target specific referral sources.

Implement Patient and Physician Satisfaction Surveys

In establishing a representative baseline for your practice, a useful initiative is to implement patient and referring physician satisfaction surveys. The information you obtain will identify ways to improve your practice which will result in better patient care, happier patients and enhanced loyalty from your referral sources. The survey design and tabulation can be developed internally or outsourced to a consulting organization. While developing the survey tool yourself might seem to be the easiest and more cost-effective alternative, an option for practices is to use a survey tool and process from an outside vendor. It will be less stressful and time consuming for the internal staff and often will provide the ability to benchmark results versus other similar group practices. The surveys should be brief, clear, easy to complete and consistent in the numeric grading system from question to question.

Patient Satisfaction Surveys

It is critically important for practices to hold onto what they have and protect their revenue base. Focusing on existing patients and seeking their input will show that you value them as a customer and that you are committed to continuous improvement. Patient surveys should focus on their clinical experience and interaction with their provider, the ease of scheduling and the referral process, their experience at their appointment and the customer service skills of the internal staff. If you decide to implement a survey process internally, the Medical Group Management Association (http://www.mgma.com/) has published Patient Satisfaction Questionnaires which provides samples of patient satisfaction questionnaires, examples of MGMA member questionnaires and ideas to measure and improve patient satisfaction. The booklet can be ordered by contacting the MGMA at 1-877-275-6462.

You should consider making patient surveys a part of your daily practice routine, asking patients to complete the survey prior to leaving your office and dropping it in a secure locked box. This gives them the opportunity to comment on their experience while it is fresh in their mind as opposed to receiving a survey six months after their appointment when the specifics of their visit might be difficult to recall.


Referring Physician Satisfaction Surveys

For specialty practices, referrals from physicians represent their primary source of new patients. As a result it is very important that you have a pulse on their feelings about your practice. Any difficulties in scheduling, reporting or complaints about your practice from their patients can quickly result in a change of their referral patterns to another provider. Physician surveys should seek feedback on the referral process, scheduling, staff customer service, clinical care, reports and patient feedback. They should also include questions related to their referral patterns to your practice and if they have changed as well as their overall satisfaction and preferred method of communication from your practice. So that they are comfortable that their comments are anonymous, it is recommended that you include a return address envelope with your address in the addressee and addressor locations. If you elect to implement a physician satisfaction survey internally versus outsourcing it to a third party, the MGMA also offers Satisfaction Surveys for Referring Physicians. The booklet includes sample physician satisfaction questionnaires, how satisfaction items are measured, methods of conducting surveys and key findings.

With patient and physician satisfaction surveys, it is imperative that you act on what you learn or your efforts will be wasted. Going forward, you should compare the metrics that you measure versus previous surveys in order to track your quality improvement progress.