From conducting feasibility assessments to navigating the intricacies of Certificate-of-Need processes, securing financing, and collaborating with project managers and construction teams, you’ve overcome significant hurdles to get to this point in developing your surgery center. However, now comes the crucial next step: attracting patients to your center. With the goal of scheduling your first 1,000 patients, it’s time to delve into effective strategies that will drive case volume. Let’s explore actionable steps to accomplish this milestone and set your surgery center on the path to success.
Lean Into Marketing
Marketing plays a crucial role in the success of a new surgery center, yet it is often overlooked or an afterthought. There are plenty of affordable and talented marketing agencies or consultants who could help you develop a simple marketing plan to help build your brand and local awareness. You want to make sure your logo, colors, messaging, or other elements of your brand are good, as it is proven to impact perception. You will also need letterhead, printed materials, email signatures, and signage, to name a few elements, to tie your overall look and feel together. Your surgery center is a business; no business succeeds without solid marketing!
Broadcast your OR Availability to Other Surgeons and Physician Offices
In today’s digital age, manual processes like faxing over open spots can slow down your surgery center’s growth. To combat this, HST Pathways offers a revolutionary feature – HST’s scheduling & care communication “Broadcast”. This powerful feature not only simplifies your scheduling process but also increases OR utilization. With the Broadcast feature, your availability for appointment times is digitally amplified to a specified group of physicians, eliminating the need for cumbersome traditional methods.
With the recurring broadcast setting, your team can automatically share open time slots to physician practices for specified dates and rooms. The availability is broadcasted via email, with a clean, easy-to-understand design that includes a “Reserve Time” button. This allows the recipients to efficiently request or hold available time, increasing the ease of scheduling.
Furthermore, if practice users choose to reserve time, they’re rerouted to a HIPAA-compliant request form that doesn’t require login. This seamless process not only boosts your center’s efficiency but also improves the experience for your medical partners.
Establish a Strong Online Presence
Prospective patients will search for you online before scheduling their appointments and procedures. Your website is your virtual lobby, and what it looks like, how it functions, and how easy it is to navigate will impact the overall patient experience and their impression of your facility. Building a social media presence is also incredibly important to your reputation and ability to connect with your community.
Develop Strong Messaging Around Why You’re Different
At the end of the day, patients are true consumers, and they have options. You will want to sit down and put pen to paper on why patients should schedule with you. What are your values? What type of culture do you foster? What can patients expect?
Engage With Your Community
Building trust and awareness within your community is critical to your success! Join your local chamber of commerce. Have a booth at local events. Offer educational seminars on healthcare topics or preventive care. Sponsor local sports teams or wellness programs. Participate in town fundraisers. But most importantly, ensure you are a proud, active, and valuable community member.
Stay Laser Focused on the Patient Experience
Word-of-mouth is everything, and those who have had a positive experience at your facility will certainly tell their friends and family members about it. From the moment your doors open, the patient experience – scheduling, arrival, communication, financial transparency, and post-op – must be seamless and thoughtful. If you can master the patient experience, longevity and success will follow.
Work with Local Media
From the start, establish relationships with local media outlets, journalists, and bloggers. Pitch newsworthy stories, expert opinions, or case studies about your surgery center’s achievements, innovative treatments, or community involvement. Securing media coverage can generate awareness and enhance your center’s reputation.
Foster Local Relationships with Surgeons & Physician Offices
In order to increase awareness about your new surgery center, it’s crucial to initiate conversations with local surgeons and physicians. These collaborations can help your center gain recognition while building a solid network of potential referrals. Arrange meetings, webinars, or even casual lunches to discuss your facility’s offerings, technologies, and how you can work together for mutual benefit. These proactive conversations can go a long way in bringing your first 1,000 patients through the door.
Utilize HST’s Patient Estimates to Enhance Patient Transparency
When it comes to healthcare, one of the major concerns patients have is cost. HST’s patient estimates module has a website cost estimator, an innovative feature by HST Pathways, addresses this concern by enabling you to provide prospective patients with cost estimates on your website, even before they reach out. Patients simply enter their desired procedure and personal information to receive an estimate via text or email.
On average, 10% of patients who receive an estimate through HST’s website cost estimator choose to get a procedure done at the same ASC. Moreover, ASC staff users can get a detailed summary of the most common procedures, payors, and plan types among prospective patients, allowing them to understand and cater to patient needs better.
Encourage Patient Reviews to Boost Credibility
Patient reviews are a key factor in the decision-making process for prospective patients. Encouraging your patients to share their experiences on multiple review websites not only increases your ASC’s credibility but also provides valuable feedback for improvement. Make this process easy for your patients by providing them with direct links to review sites in your follow-up emails or text messages. Positive testimonials can significantly contribute to your growth by attracting new patients and retaining existing ones.
In conclusion, successful marketing requires a well-rounded approach that incorporates both traditional strategies and innovative tools like HST’s scheduling & care communication and patient estimates. By incorporating these elements, you can enhance your reach, boost credibility, and ultimately, drive patient volumes to your new surgery center. It is a vital investment that can significantly contribute to the success and prosperity of your surgery center and will help you get those first 1,000 patients in the door.
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