Ultimate Guide: Doctor Referral Marketing for Medical Practices
Doctor Referral Marketing
Doctor referral marketing is a great marketing idea for a practice that’s looking to bring in new patients. Medical practices deal with people’s lives which is why patients are very careful when it comes to visiting a medical practice. Medical practices have to gain the trust of patients to retain and attract new clients. One of the most effective ways a medical practice gets new clients is through referrals.
Referrals are essential for medical practices in that it helps generate new patients as well as build good relationships that promote patient retention.
Although doctor referral marketing is an effective marketing strategy, it’s still associated with challenges. The process is time intensive as you need to build great connections and relationships which can take years before yielding results. Even with this time-intensive relationship you’ve built, this marketing strategy may not yield the kind of results you expect most likely due to the poor hands-off process.
A physician may refer a patient to a specialist truly but the difficulty linked with self-scheduling an appointment may frustrate the patient resulting in a no-show referral patient. The poor referral tracking system is also another challenge linked to referral marketing for medical practices.
Understanding the Referral Process
Doctor referral marketing for medical practices is effective but for it to yield desired results you need to know the process. Understanding the processes involved in doctor referral marketing for clinical practices helps you get good results and make adjustments when needed.
1. The Role of the Referring Physician
The referring physician is the physician that directs a patient to another physician, directs the patient to make a referral, or controls the referral made by the patient or practice. The referring physician has an important role to play in the growth and stability of the medical practice.
Referring physicians direct a variety of patients and clinical cases to a medical practice to help build the clinic client base as well as provide clinical cases for research and teaching purposes.
2. The Role of The Receiving Physician
Receiving physician is the physician the patient is referred to. The role of the receiving physician ranges from offering the best quality treatment services to the referred patient. This will even motivate the referring physician to direct more patients to you when the need arises. A receiving physician also has a major role to play in building and maintaining strong relationships with the referring doctor or practice.
3. The Role of The Patient
The patient also has a role to play in the referral process. The patient’s role is to follow up with the referral made. Ensure you take your time to schedule an appointment with the specialist you’re referred to and show up for your appointment. If the referring physician has yet to refer you even after speaking with you about it, your role is to call the practice to check the status of your referral process.
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