0 (0s):
Hi, it's Dr. Weitz. Thanks so much for joining me for this episode of the private medical practice academy. There are lots of steps to starting your own practice, credentialing and contracting, finding the space, hiring your staff. And the list goes on all culminating with getting patients in the door because after all this is why you're starting the practice. I'm sure you've heard the expression build it and they will come. Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. We have to have a plan to build your patient volume. Today. I'm going to tell you about six steps so that you could accelerate your ramp up first.

0 (41s):
You need to define your message in order to attract patients. You need to differentiate yourself from the other physicians in your area. You've heard me speak about finding your niche. This is what I'm talking about. You need to identify the things that set you apart. Consider what your patients value as most important about you. If you don't know the answer, ask your patients for feedback, how you can interview patients directly by asking them to highlight what they feel is special about you and your practice. You can even do this while you're still an employed physician. Simply tell the patients that you're trying to improve your patient satisfaction. And to that end, if you're already in practice, you'll definitely want to use your patient satisfaction surveys.

0 (1m 26s):
To mind this information, next research, how your competitors express, what makes their practice unique. And then I want you to consider how is your practice different? Write it down better yet. Take the data and make a Venn diagram. Being able to visualize the similarities and differences is going to help you articulate the elements that set your practice apart in turn. This is going to help you to develop a clear message that forms the basis for your branding and ultimately provides the backbone for all of your communications.

0 (2m 7s):
Next, we need to create your brand creating a name and a tagline is the first step in developing your brand. Your brand is how you stand out from the crowd. It's also a direct reflection of your practice. You want to think about what best captures the essence of your practice. The name should communicate something about you and your practice. So what do I mean, I'll give you some examples. The name of my practice was comprehensive pain management. My main competitor was spine diagnostics and interventional pain. It shouldn't take you long to see how these names both define and differentiate the two groups in comparison.

0 (2m 55s):
There was another group that was called Baton Rouge, pain management. What'd get out of that name. Are they an interventional pain management group? Do they do only medication management? Do they offer a comprehensive approach to treating pain? Who's their ideal patient in the example of comprehensive pain management and spine diagnostics and interventional pain, you can quickly see who they are trying to target in terms of the patient population that they want to come and see them. Now, in case you think that my example only applies to pain management, let me share another example. There are two large urology groups in Baton Rouge.

0 (3m 35s):
One is Baton Rouge, urology, and the other is Louisiana urology. And then there are the cardiologists. We have Baton Rouge cardiology, and then we have Louisiana cardiology associates. If you're looking up either of these groups, how would you differentiate them? The bottom line is you can't my patients and my staff could never figure out which urologist or cardiologist was in which group, because the names were so similar. Bottom line, try to pick a name that best captures who you are and who you want to come and see you before you settle on a name.

0 (4m 16s):
You'll want to research potential names to see if and where they're already being used. It may not matter to you that someone on the other end of the country has a similar name. As long as you avoid any trademark infringements. On the other hand, if you are looking to build a brand, that's going to be in multiple locations. It may very well mattered to you that somebody in another city has a very similar name to you. The other thing you're going to want to consider is your domain name. Finding a domain name can be challenging. Ideally, you want to identify both your practice name and the domain name at the same time.

0 (4m 56s):
And obviously it would be great if they were the same, but that doesn't always work. They at least need to be similar so that people understand that they're related. And for both your practice and your domain name, think about ones that are easy to say. And remember, next, you're going to want to create a unique and professionally designed logo. That again, represents your practice. I know that this may seem like an unnecessary expense at a time when you don't have a lot of extra cash on hand that said a deliberately and professionally designed logo helps your brand quickly communicate the tone and the personality of your practice.

0 (5m 41s):
This is one of the first steps in shaping your practices. Reputation to get started. You'll need a set of professional business and appointment cards as well as letterhead and envelopes. Now, in case you think this is old fashioned patients still want appointment

1 (5m 58s):
Carts. There are times where you're going to need to write a letter and then print it out. Everything may comes from you or your office should have your name and your logo on it. I'd also recommend to you creating a brochure that's professionally done and consistent with your brand. You want to put it in your reception area and in every exam room. You'll also want to use it as a leave behind piece. When you go to visit potential referral sources. Initially you'll want to order a small quantity of these printed materials, because it's likely that you're going to want to tweak your message or add specific details after your first few months. And this should go without saying all other collateral materials, signage, and name tags should also incorporate your logo and branding.

1 (6m 47s):
Next, I want to touch on a topic that I've talked about in the past. Your website is your digital business card. You need a website at the start. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but it does need to be professionally done. You can always add more content over time. As long as you consider from the beginning, how you might expect to expand it, having it professionally done is going to enable you to have the navigation and essentially the framework to accommodate your future needs. The initial website serves two main purposes. One to substantiate your word of mouth reputation and credibility, and then two to convert website, visitors to new patients.

1 (7m 33s):
You need to allow about two to three months lead time to have your website go live. And to that end, you're going to want to have your website live at least four to eight weeks before you actually open your doors. You need to promote early and often. If you have a panel of patients that may follow you to your new practice, you want them to be able to find you. If you have a non-compete or non-solicit clause in your contract, this can be a little bit challenging. Obviously, if you don't have a non-compete or non-solicit, you can simply email or send your patients letter before your lunch date to tell them where you're going to be. But how can you encourage your patients to follow you to your new practice?

1 (8m 14s):
If you do have a non-compete or non-solicit? Well, first of all, you can have a Facebook page that simply provides content. What do I mean by content information? You know, the questions that you are most frequently asked, let's say you're a pediatrician you could post on parenting tips. You can always direct your current patients to your Facebook page. To those tips. Patients then will always know where to find you. Even after you leave your employer. You may also want to consider offering a downloadable handout in exchange for the potential patient's email. That way you can grow an email.

1 (8m 56s):
That way you can write a newsletter and continue to send out informational tips. I can tell you firsthand, if you stay in contact with your patients, they will ultimately reach out to figure out how to find you. You can also place an announcement advertisement that includes your photo in the local newspapers and online publications. Yes, believe it or not, people still read these, or at least scan them. You should also mail and email a designed announcement to potential referral sources. This is extremely important because patients will often go back to their PCP or other physicians and say, Hey, do you know where Dr. Smith is? They're no longer with X, Y, and Z clinic.

1 (9m 38s):
If you've let your referral sources know where you are, it's easier for them to say, yeah, Dr. Smith started his own clinic. Here's his new contact info. Let me refer you. The key here is that you have to make it easy for the referral sources, because otherwise they'll just say, Nope, I have no idea where he went and they'll refer that patient to somebody else. I want you to understand that as far as a non-solicitation clause, if the referring doc tells your patient where you went, you didn't actually solicit that patient, the PCP or the referring doc simply referred that patient to you.

1 (10m 20s):
Totally legit. Now, if you have a non-compete and you're within the non-compete area, that's totally different story. But as far as non-solicit is concerned, if somebody refers a patient to you and you haven't done anything to solicit that patient, that's not a problem. I also want you to realize that you don't want to limit your announcements to just physician referral sources, tell everyone physical therapists, massage therapists, chiropractors, nutritionists, the local gym, basically anybody because referrals come by word of mouth. So the more people who know where you are and what you're doing the better off you're going to be. You want to send out the announcements four weeks, at least before your start date, then you want to follow up with periodic reminder letters.

1 (11m 7s):
One week before you open two weeks after you opened your reminder letters and emails are basically a great opportunity to tout your availability, like same day appointments. You're going to want to set up the ability to accept new appointments before your official opening date. That way you'll actually have patients to see when you open your doors, you can start scheduling patients two to four weeks before your official open. Then I would advocate doing a soft open a few days or a week before your official open. What do I mean? You should have your EMR up and running and your staff in place at least one week, if not longer, before your true open by scheduling two, three

2 (11m 53s):
Patients per day in that pre opened week or two, you can actually identify any glitches that need to be addressed before you get rolling. As you can imagine, first impressions matter. So you're going to want your first day with a true open to go as smoothly as it can. The last key step is actually having a welcome party. You want to consider planning an open house reception close to, or at least within the first month to two months of your start date, building marketing momentum during the lunch phase that culminates in an open house, generates excitement and enthusiasm for your patients, referral sources and your team in open house invitation is more powerful than the standard.

2 (12m 45s):
Here's our new place. Advertisement. People really want to come and check you out. It really is your opportunity to show off what your practice is all about. The last thing I want to tell you is that you can employ these strategies, obviously when you're first starting your practice, but you're going to want to then adapt them and use this over and over. As you add additional physicians, open a satellite office, or bring on a new service line because the more you can ramp up before you actually start, the faster that ramp up is going to be. Thanks for joining me. Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter below.

2 (13m 25s):
I'll be sending you tips on how to start a practice, grow a practice, and then add multiple services so that you can maximize your revenue.