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Tip of the Month: Cure for the empty-bed syndrome

LTC Liability Monitor, March 6, 2007

Source: Briefings on Long-Term Care Regulations, July 2001

If you're like most nursing home administrators, you usually have a few empty beds in your facility at any given time. You may see this as a fact of life, but it doesn't have to be.

You probably already have a sales and marketing plan in place, but is it continually being looked at, used, and tweaked? "Your market plan is not an event-you don't just get it done and put it away," explained Shirley Paulk, RN, president of Creative Concepts, a health care marketing and consulting company in Dacula, GA. "It's a process."

Paulk explained the importance of building strong relationships with discharge and referral professionals to fill your beds when she spoke at the American College of Health Care Administrators conference in April. Once those relationships are in place, she said, you can be sure of getting the residents who are the best fit for your skilled nursing facility (SNF).

Diagnostic selling

First look at what audience you want your marketing to target and what kinds of residents fit best with your particular skills. Consider niche marketing in areas such as geriatric diabetes, rehabilitation, and dementia care, depending on your SNF's diagnostic specialty. Also, make sure your specialty is one that pays adequately. (See the sidebar on p. 3 for one facility's success story.)

Paulk advised that you choose your identity carefully and stand behind your promise of quality care in that field. Once you've determined you can effectively fill the role of being a specialist in diabetes or in ventilator support, for example, you can sell that image.

"Diagnostic selling peaks awareness," said Paulk. "If you can say, 'I've got a bed open in my oncology care unit or my diabetes unit,' that's a very successful way of getting attention." And not only will families of potential residents pay attention, but hospital discharge planners will too.

Paulk suggested having your sales and marketing person give physicians in local hospitals a one-page fact sheet on what your SNF's specialty is and how you treat the diagnosis. That way, they'll think of you the next time they've got a patient in that situation who needs to spend time in a nursing home.

You can even use the niche marketing approach to partner with assisted living facilities (ALFs). Offer to take care of that sick resident needing specialty care and say that when the resident is sufficiently recovered, you'd be happy to return him or her to the ALF. Stay true to your promise and you'll have built another successful relationship, said Paulk.

Your marketing approach

So how do you make the empty beds fade to a distant memory? This is where your sales and marketing plan comes into play. "There's no magic to marketing-it's persistence," said Paulk.

First, you need to have a marketing team with someone from every part of your SNF represented. "Most successful companies even have a certified nursing assistant (CNA) on the marketing team," said Paulk. Not only does this give you the perspective of everyone on the caregiving team for your marketing plan, but it's also a nice recognition tool for employees such as CNAs.

Once you've got your team and your marketing niche, check out what your competitors are doing. "You've got to know what you're selling against, especially since the private-pay market is on the rise," Paulk pointed out. Keep profiles of your competitors, including number of beds, occupancy rates, services, pricing, reputations, and market shares.

Finally, there are some simple things you can do to build your facility's market share, while delighting your customers. Consider trying the following tips:

  • Use satisfaction surveys. Interview all your residents within 14 days after they move in, and then again within 14 days before they move out, if possible. Feedback from these interviews will help you determine whether your facility is living up to what's promised in your marketing plan.

  • Make a good first impression. This can be done by simply keeping fresh flowers and a smiling person in your reception area. Paulk pointed out that many SNFs fall down in the area of off-shift reception. "Your off-shift reception still needs to be trained to answer the telephone courteously," she said. In some cases, they will be the first chance your facility gets to make a good impression on someone.

  • Spread the word. As a member of the management team, you are an important spokesperson and possible lead-generator. Make up a 30-second speech about your SNF and its particular strengths, advised Paulk. Practice it and then use it when people ask you what you do. It's another good way to get the word out about your SNF's specialty, or just to emphasize your record of quality care.

  • Dedicate at least one full-time person for sales and marketing. This is a crucial position for getting those empty beds filled. Think your facility can't afford a full-time employee in this position? "Do the math," suggested Paulk. Having those empty beds filled will pay that person's salary and more. See the box on p. 3 for what you should expect from your sales and marketing person.

  • Check on your medical director. Your medical director is someone with respect and contacts in high places. He or she can help get your name out about your specialty market, or just your general excellence. Make sure your medical director is marketing your facility, too.

    So stop exhausting yourself by defending your census to your SNF's corporate office-try these tips to improve it. The private-pay sector has a lot of choices and options these days, meaning you have a lot of competition. But if you set up your facility to stand out from the rest, it will stick in people's minds. Create value and people will come.

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