Doctors unfortunately see higher risks of burnout than most other careers. In fact, according to a Mayo Clinic study, 44 percent of doctors reported feeling at least one symptom of burnout. It can be detrimental, leaving you feeling helpless, and it can even put your practice at risk. Knowing the signs of burnout and how to avoid it as a practice owner can help you stay motivated and on track.
Get More Patients With Increased Communication
A good way to lose patients is by not touching base with them often enough. Your patients are like you, they lead a busy life full of work, family, and social events. It’s natural that they might neglect checkups or even forget about appointments. If you don’t keep your returning patients from checking back in, that can leave the door open for them to go to another practice because they feel no loyalty to yours. Stay in touch through text reminders about appointments, emails, newsletters, even special offers if you sell products in your office.
Another great way to keep in touch is by sending personalized birthday cards via email or mail. It will make your patients feel special and remind them that you’re there.
Utilize Patient Feedback
You are sitting on a goldmine if you have a large group of loyal patients. Their referrals alone can bring in mass amounts of new patients to your practice. Their glowing recommendation will travel far within the community. After every visit, you should have an automated email that goes out to your patients asking to review their visit via your Google or Facebook page. According to a study done by BrightLocal, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.
Having ten or more excellent reviews on your practice can be the difference between a patient choosing your practice or your competitor. This is also ideal for marketing. You can take those testimonies and turn them into a post on your social media pages or website.
Having Too Many Administrative Tasks
As the practice owner it can be easy to get caught up in all the administrative tasks, but that can take away energy that you need to put into tasks that only doctors can accomplish. This can lead to things like not having enough time with patients, which is usually what most doctors say they enjoy the most about their job.
Practice Environment
Having ties to other practices allows you to build a network for referrals and constantly gain more patients. In order for this to work though, it’s imperative that you build your referral system the right way. Approximately one-quarter of the U.S. patients, and 63% of referring physicians reported dissatisfaction for referrals. This is due to a lack of timeliness, and inadequate content of interphysician communication.
To optimize your referral program, make sure that you give referred patients priority and they have a direct number to your office, not a phone tree with automated responses. Also create concise referral forms so it’s easy for other practices to work with you. Clear communication with the patient and referring practice along with timely feedback will boost your reputation, and get more patients into your clinic.
Grow Your Online Presence
Even though as a doctor you rely on face-to-face interactions to provide services and build a rapport with your patients, you still need to maintain a strong online presence to attract new patients and provide them with the customer experience they expect. You can do this by building up your social media pages, having an optimized website, and claiming any online listings you may have.
If you don’t already have social media pages like Facebook or Instagram, you’re missing out on an entire demographic. If you do, you should be posting on them weekly. The more you post online, the more interactions you’ll get, and the more likely you are to be remembered when a potential patient is deciding which practice they want to visit.
If your website hasn’t been updated in the last year or two, there is room for growth. Updating your SEO and content, along with being optimized for mobile users is critical for showing up in online searches. It’s also essential for overall user experience and increases your chances of patients staying on your website.
Another great way to grow your online presence is to claim any of your online listings. This will ensure that you will have the right information listed like address and hours of operation and contact information.
Having a robust online presence is the perfect way to attract and gain more patients.
Engage With Your Local Community
Joining community events is a phenomenal way to get more patients in primary care. It shows that you and your staff truly care about the local community in more than one way. To intertwine yourself in the community, consider sponsoring sports leagues or runs. You can attend community events or fundraisers. Any way that you can put your practice’s name out to the community, you should take advantage of.
Optimize Your Front Desk
The first line of communication that any new or existing patient has is your front desk. If the patient is on hold for five minutes before they talk to someone, they’re met with an unfriendly voice, or your employee doesn’t know how to properly answer their question, it will have a major impact on your practice. Running a friendly and efficient front desk is key to gaining new patients. To make sure that every call is answered and your front desk is optimized, check out the software, UPbook. With UPbook you’ll never miss a call and have the most successful front desk booking new patients every chance you get.
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