Rehab

Do-it-yourself rehab marketing

Rehab Regs, July 20, 2005

How to get your name out to both consumers and physicians

If you still use the standard holiday fruitcake to improve physician relations with your facility, it's time to try something new.

In the current competitive rehab environment, you must do all you can to show patients and referring physicians that your facility is the place to receive treatment--and you don't need to spend lots of money to do it.

You never know how or why a patient might choose you over another therapist, so give him or her every opportunity to choose you.

Although direct access is available for non-Medicare patients, in most cases, your patients still need to obtain a referral from their physician before they begin therapy. At the very least, they may ask their doctor whom he or she recommends.

To make sure your name is the first mentioned, keep in regular contact with referring physicians. Your short list should include both physicians who regularly refer to you as well as those who have a specialty practice that may dovetail with the services you provide.

Also gather information about physicians who have offices geographically near your facility but with whom you don't yet have an established relationship. They could be the key to boosting your caseload.

Physicians have a lot of influence over where your potential patients receive therapy, but your current patients are also a great referral source. If patients feel that you treated them well and helped them improve in a timely manner, they're likely to recommend you in the future to friends, family members, or coworkers who need therapy.

"Don't ignore either [physicians or patients]," says Lynn Steffes, PT, president of Steffes & Associates, a consulting firm in New Berlin, WI. "Your greatest source of referrals can be your patient's family and friends."

Here are a few strategies that have worked for facilities across the country:

  • Patient alumni programs or reunions. These annual or biannual gatherings encourage current and former patients and their families to get together. It also allows your staff to introduce new programs or specialties to the group. Former patients who have improved with the help of therapy services can also be an inspiration to current patients.

    CPL Family of Centers in Middletown, CT, which has 21 rehab departments across the country, invites former patients to its reunions and encourages them to bring their families. "We have been thinking of ways to get more involved with the community and create some buzz," says Joy Harris, MS, OTR/L, corporate director of rehabilitation services for CPL Family of Centers. "We organize a party and plan icebreaker activities for the attendees. The therapists can also network and conduct a brief introduction to new rehab programs."

  • Second visit tour. On your patients' second visit to your facility, have a staff member take them on a tour of the facility, explain their benefits and payment arrangements, and give them a brochure detailing the services you offer.

    "You want to send them away singing your praises," says Steffes. "You're obviously going to take fabulous care of them, but you really want to make sure they leave with a connection."

    Wait until the second visit because during the patient's initial evaluation, you may not know whether he or she definitely needs therapy, and the patient may also be preoccupied with completing paperwork.

  • Make yourself magnetic. Everyone has business cards, but if you add a magnet to the back of yours, you can create a permanent marketing piece, says Steffes.

  • Mention family and friends. As your patient's episode of care ends, encourage him or her to contact you with any additional problems. For example, your dentist doesn't permanently discharge you, says Steffes, because you will return to him or her the next time you need dental work done.

    Similarly, mention that you can also see any family members who may need rehab in the future. "Tell your patient[s] that you're willing to see anyone in their family who wants to come in for a free, 10-minute screening," says Steffes. "You're their therapist, but you'd also like to become their family's therapist."

    All of these strategies become even more important as physician-owned clinics continue to pop up, and the physician owners try to keep their patients in-house for rehab. "It's important for a patient to say, 'I already have a therapist,' " says Steffes.

    Physicians are busy and may not read the brochure you dropped off at their office or attend that information session you organized. Instead of continuing to bark up that same tree, try a new tactic.

    Set up a presentation in the physician and staff break room. The rehabilitation department at Ephraim McDowell Health in Danville, KY, periodically sets up in the physicians' break room and provides lunch or brunch, along with material about what services their facility offers.

    "I really believe we're doing better with this [approach] than with anything else," says Ron Barbato, PT, corporate director for rehabilitation at Ephraim McDowell Health. "We started with the doctors we thought would be the most responsive, and we track their therapy referrals." Also remember to disclose that you provided the food, says Barbato.

  • Win over the gatekeepers. Physicians aren't the only individuals to whom to market. Nurses, nurse practitioners, case managers, and receptionists can also help get your name to the top of a doctor's referral list. "There are a lot of people who have input on where a patient goes," says Harris. "The more you can make these people aware of your programs and what makes you different, the more likely you are to get referrals."

  • Send a postcard. Harris' facility is beginning to send targeted postcards that profile a patient success story to physicians. With the patient's permission, the center includes a photograph and information about how well the patient did in therapy. Ideally, the patient's treatment would be in line with the physician's specialty area. For example, a postcard describing a patient in therapy for a hip fracture would be sent out to orthopaedic physicians.

  • Create a patient satisfaction survey. At Harris' facility, administrators collect information about patients' satisfaction with factors such as physical environment, food, and nursing care.

    Now, they also collect information on rehab services. Staff compile a three-month summary and send the information to the referring physician, who will hopefully anticipate similar positive outcomes for future referrals.

    If you want to try broader ranging public relations techniques, consider the following:

  • Invite the press. For events like the therapy reunion Harris mentioned, send an invite to a local reporter or put a press release in the newspaper.

  • Be a source. Offer to speak with a local reporter about effective gardening techniques in the summer or safe shoveling positions in the winter. Approach him or her with a story idea, not just a pamphlet with information about your services, says Nancy Beckley, MS, MBA, president of Bloomingdale Consulting Group in Brandon, FL.

    "It's all about developing a relationship and then finding a reason to have members of the media stop by," says Beckley. For example, an OT might ask local food editors to come by and look at adaptive equipment for kitchens. "Invite them to your rehab kitchen and have lunch with them, using the time to teach them about your adaptive equipment."

  • Zero in. The more specific you can be in your marketing, the better, says Beckley. If you treat athletes, consider marketing directly to high school players, or even more specifically, to high school players who participate in a specific sport. Or if you primarily offer hand therapy but have a great carpal tunnel program, market to that specific group.

    The fruitcake may not be completely passé, but there are better ways to show patients and physicians that you're the best therapist for the job.

    "We still do the gift basket, but we go way beyond that," says Harris. "[Physicians] want to know that the patients who go to you will be satisfied. We have to show them that the quality of care is going to be good."

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