2010 was one of the most tumultuous years for the healthcare industry, and particularly, for physician’s practices. Healthcare reform, social media, and the rise of the empowered patient all represent substantial changes to how your practice will function in 2011. Having the right team and technologies in place is a great start, but the correct techniques and tactics are critical too. Today I would like to explore a few strategies for the coming year that account for the emerging trends in healthcare.
It is said that only fools do not learn from history, so let’s first look back to the last major time of change. In 1973 Nixon signed the HMO Act which spurred the growth of managed care. The new federally-mandated and funded health plans grew quickly on promises of administrative simplification, a steady stream of patients and good payments. The result was a whole new breed of companies that implemented ideas like the two day post-partum hospital stay limitation and took more control of care than patients or physicians were comfortable with. Patients and Physicians enabled the growth of the nascent HMOs by signing up en masse. We are now at a similar juncture where the reactions of individual physicians will determine the healthcare industry of tomorrow. Market forces now are pushing Physicians to become employees but the private practice model is still viable, especially when aided with the powerful technologies available. In fact, with the automated system available for online scheduling, patient acquisition, reimbursement, and follow-up, you may find yourself in a better position next year with more control over care decisions, better revenue cycles, and healthier patients. The emergence of systems that automate office processes, record keeping and communications not only free up staff time for care-related activities, but also can free your practice from the ties that would bind it.
The largest single driver of c
hange is the high cost of traditional health insurance. Most employers and individuals have had to choose between large premium increases or a marginal increase with lesser coverage for the past few years. The result is a significant shifting of costs to patients, usually in the form of High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs). The resultant increased responsibility for payment has put patients in the driver’s seat, empowering them to make their own decisions. This is good news for physicians. New “direct-pay” patients enable you to give the best care possible as only you and the patient will decide what is best. Embracing this change is a core element to our suggested strategies for success in 2011.
Attracting a New Generation of Patients
To attract or retain this new breed of self-pays we need to understand their behavior. A few well-designed studies showed that consistent guidance from an involved Physician or allied health professional can actually keep the newly empowered HDHP patient healthier than non-HDHP plan members. Without such guidance the majority of HDHP patients typically fall deeper into episodic care patterns, only seeking help when something hurts or something happens. Furthermore, a responsible and involved patient is empowered not only by controlling what they get and who they see, but also is more likely to research their symptoms online and be healthier than they would be otherwise. Physicians who work well with empowered direct-pay patients and seek partnerships are highly favored by them, which is good because they are very vocal online and will blog, post, like, recommend, and comment about you all over the internet. You just focus on care and they will spread the word about your patient-focused quality care.
Your empowered patient also seeks transparency to a greater degree. The same people who wouldn’t imagine shopping for a car without knowing the invoice price, ratings, and opinions of their peers are now shopping for care and they want access to that same information for their physicians. The emergence of sites like HealthcareBlueBook and HealthGrades made it easier for patients to get the information they are looking for but do not offer providers much control over what is published and are not true “shopping” sites. Providers and institutions that offer transparent pricing and service policies are winning patients daily as more than two thirds of patients research their care online before visiting your office.
Finally, with Facebook surpassing Google as the most popular online destination, social media is far more than just a trend: it is the new global backyard fence we are all talking over. Sites like Yelp, Twitter, and LinkedIn are word of mouth writ large and your new best friend or worst enemy when trying to maintain or grow your practice.
Changing with the Times
So how should medical professionals adapt? How should you interact with social media? Who has the best practices in place already? Well, since this is what we think about all day long for our FairCareMDs, we have a few suggestions and are happy to share them. These are all tasks you and your staff can easily do and will be high impact in the coming year.
Seven Strategies to adapt to the healthcare marketplace in 2011:
Reach Out Regularly – Assign a staff member to call some, if not all, patients two weeks after their visit to see how they are doing. Pre-schedule annual exams and follow-ups for on-going care. Be proactive for patients as many will not remember to call. Keep them happy and healthy by taking a page from the best customer service companies and reach out, even if it is just to ask how they are feeling. This is especially important when people are paying for more care themselves.
Get Ready to be Shopped – More patients will be shopping for care. Even many of your existing patients will be looking for other high-quality, fairly-priced providers. Be ready for the question of cost and service descriptions from empowered direct-pay patients. Prepare your staff with a price list and a clear statement of what services are provided in layman’s terms. Simple care contracts can help your collections process immensely too! Sites like our own FairCareMD let you control and publish all information these patients are looking for in one place, automating the process too. Millions of searches for care have made us the new healthcare marketplace, an open network of providers ready directly contract with patients.
Selectively Embrace Social Media – The likes of Facebook, Twitter, and a host of other social media sites can be the bane of an office manager’s existence. Is your staff spending more time looking at their cell phones than at your patients? Reign in social media and cell phone usage during work hours with a clear policy and firewall that prevents inappropriate PC and cell phone use during work time. On the other hand, social media for your practice can be a wonderful tool to get your brand out to the public in a low cost, high impact model. Set up your Facebook page and twitter accounts and post patient education materials there. These mediums offer a way to reach out to all your patients and tell them things they should know. Assign 15 minutes a day and it will pay you back with better patient relationships and healthier people. Be careful with what you post though, HIPAA needs to be respected so never post patient-related information. Very often your patients will post to your page, “like” your practice, and make you look great! To see it done right we recommend visiting the sites of a few of our favorite FairCareMDs, Jeff Livingston and Justin Bazan.
Set Prompt-pay Rates – Most states allow for prompt pay rates for patients who pay directly and within a few days. With more people paying directly this is something you can do very easily to make happier patients. It is a proven fact that direct-pay patients cost your office less to administer the care of too. Speaking of which…
Manage the Change – One of the positive effects of patients who pay directly is potentially a reduction of your administrative costs by as much as 40%, but you need to manage this transition. Your billing system can produce reports by financial classification (self, private, commercial…) with just a few clicks. Also run reports by how long it takes to collect by who is paying (often called Aging, AR Days, or Collection rate). This will show you your true cost of delays and denials and who is treating you well and which payers you can fire. Now look at the change year over year. If your payment cycle (days to collection) has sped up then you can assume your staff didn’t have to work as hard on collections. Think about what your team is doing with all that extra time — don’t let it get absorbed by Facebook and texting!
Defend Your Reputation – Did you know that most ratings sites are more than happy to let you moderate a few of your reviews? If you see a review online that you think is inappropriate you can email customer service on the site and either rebut it or get it removed. On our site, for example, you can moderate up to 25% of the reviews patients leave for you and nothing gets published without your approval.
Get Transparent – With more patients paying directly, it is very helpful to make your practices policies and procedures as clear as possible. If you work with a hospital or surgicenter, see if you can work out all-inclusive pricing for services that can simplify matters for patients considering your services.
Following these seven strategies will help your practice thrive through the changes that we will see in the coming year. It may sound like a great deal of effort, but most of these systems are enabled by Direct Provider Access systems (DPAs) like FairCareMD that automate traditionally time consuming and costly processes like marketing, communications, scheduling, and payment processing. Working out rates with your hospital may take longer, but most of these suggestions can be done by an office manager in a single morning and will have great benefits for the physical and financial health of your patients and your medical practice. It will also improve your reputation in the community and online. Hopefully you have enabled your practice with a great physician Practice Management system or EHR system already as systems like Practice Fusion integrate and enable many of the suggestions we have made. Finally, the greatest benefit is getting back control of care. With an increasing number of patients paying directly you can start to pay attention to the two opinions that matter most in care decisions, you and your patients.
— Alex Fair
Alex Fair is the founder and CEO of FairCareMD, the Open Health Care Network that allows physicians and patients to connect directly, cutting up to 40% of the cost of care just by removing the middlemen. If you are ready to go direct, call (954) FAIR-CARE or just sign-up today and start getting more direct-pay patients who are looking for you in every zip code in America!
