Concierge medical practices are an alternative healthcare model with a unique ability to offer more time and focus on patients. With this retainer-based structure, providers serve a smaller patient base allowing clinicians to provide more generous allocations in their daily schedules.
With more focus on each patient, providers see better outcomes as they deliver more personalized medicine, patient-centered medicine, and timely preventive care. This type of arrangement is known by other names such as premier practice, platinum practice, direct pay, direct primary care, membership medicine, or boutique medical practice.
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Because this healthcare model is not mainstream, many patients may not even be aware that this membership-based care is an option. Marketing for concierge medical practices empowers independent clinicians to reach patients who would most benefit from alternative healthcare.
The Us Concierge Medicine Model
Concierge medicine is entrepreneurial in essence, as doctors build a patient base secured by direct subscribers rather than insurance payers. Formally defined, concierge medicine is a retainer-based, doctor-patient relationship in which a fee or retainer is paid annually. However, with some direct primary care providers, subscribing patients pay monthly.
While the reasons a provider or a patient would want such an arrangement vary by individual preference, one of the common reasons for “membership medicine” is a desire to have more consultation time.
Physicians want to spend more time with each patient, but traditional healthcare has its limitations, sometimes leaving both patients and providers feeling rushed. Survey results reveal that the vast majority of concierge care physicians have more career satisfaction and higher-quality relationships with patients.
The Doctor Is In. Co Pay? $40,000.
Humans are creatures of habit who tend to only make a change when there is enough motivation or agitation present. To understand how to reach those who would enroll in retainer or subscription-based care services, we need to consider what circumstances would steer them toward alternatives.
Below are just a few anecdotal examples of patients who may be inclined to enroll with direct care membership programs. Prospects to target will vary by market territory.
A set of circumstances very different from the typical patient is what brings these patients to the door of concierge or direct primary care, and thus these people ought to be approached differently. Marketing for concierge medical practices leverages strategies designed with these distinctions in mind to better resonate with prospects.
Direct Primary Care, More Affordable 'concierge' Medicine, Is Hard To Scale Up
Traditionally, insurance companies have been the driving force that brings doctors and patients together. So, when the influence of insurance companies is removed from the care equation, other means must be found to build a patient base. Concierge medicine marketing plays a powerful role in influencing patients to switch to this healthcare alternative. Digital marketing for doctors as part of your outreach strategy helps you tap this niche market.
SEO (or search engine optimization) refers to efforts made to be found on Google at the moment prospects are looking. There are different kinds of searches and ideally, your concierge practice should be found for all of them.
With keyword strategy, you need to get into your prospect’s head. For example, a patient might Google “self pay doctors near me.” This keyword has a monthly search volume of 630 meaning over 600 people google this term each month. Such a patient is probably needing care very soon, so it is to your advantage when your practice appears in this search. Ensuring that your website contains these relevant terms fuels your medical practice SEO.
Concierge Medicine Market Trend
While SEO is referred to as organic search (unpaid), PPC (pay-per-click) or Google Ads are forms of paid search. This means that businesses pay for placement in search results. With Google Ads for medical practices, you only pay if someone clicks your “ad”. Paid results look very similar to organic results on the search (but are labeled as “Ad”) and are usually placed near the top of the list.
Paid search tends to deliver gains faster, but placements are lost as soon as the campaigns are turned off. Compare this with organic search, which takes time to build up, but the visibility power is for keeps. Having both organic and paid search working in tandem maximizes online visibility.
A medical practice’s online reputation matters now more than ever. A Doctor.com survey found that 88% of healthcare consumers read online reviews to vet referrals. What this tells us is that today’s patient is willing to do the extra work to ensure that they make the most informed decision. This same survey also found that most patients will not consider a practice with a rating below four stars. Online reputation management for doctors is crucial when marketing for concierge medical practices.
What Is The Role Of Concierge Medicine In Your Organization's Ambulatory Strategy?
Because concierge and direct primary care providers are designed to give more time and attention to patients, this fosters patient loyalty and a better doctor-patient relationship. Ideally, these positive experiences should be shared online, so that when prospects do find your practice online, the ratings and reviews nurture consumer confidence.
Patients do not see their doctors every day, but many of them use social media daily. Social media for doctors allows practices to stay connected with patients and the community year-round with important announcements, timely information, and content that builds rapport.
Survey results reveal that 60% of patients trust their doctor’s posts over other sources on social media. Social media gives providers a platform to dispel myths and mitigate the impact of misinformation on medical topics, and this positions your practice as an authority.
Are Physicians Public Goods?
It takes time to build a social media following, but once you have an engaged audience, patient loyalty is strengthened, and your practice brand is fortified. Non-patients that come upon your posts are likely to view high engagement as a positive endorsement of your service quality.
Compared to conventional medical practices, concierge and direct primary care face a greater challenge to reach prospects. When done with precision, digital marketing is more effective at targeting a specific audience compared to traditional advertising.
Think of your healthcare digital marketing strategy as a ship at sea. The more nets you have cast, the greater your chances are of catching the desired fish. So, having all channels activated – organic search, paid search, online reputation management, and social media – gives marketing for concierge medical practices the best chance for success.
How To Create A Successful Healthcare Business Plan For Your Medical Practice
Over 4000 providers rely on our practice marketing services to connect with the right patients for their practices. Our team of medical marketing experts has first-hand experience with concierge healthcare.
For a startup concierge practice, our independent doctor marketing strategies produced a 268% increase in website traffic, a 341% increase in page one keyword rankings, and a 400% increase in web-generated new patient requests.
Reaching prospective patients who would want concierge or direct primary care can be daunting, but our experienced digital marketing team knows how to best target your niche using fine-tuned precision with concierge medical practice marketing.
What To Consider When Setting A Concierge Physician Salary
Get started today by requesting a free, no-obligation call with one of our concierge medical practice consultants! Fill out the form below and someone will be in touch soon.The shortage of physicians has become a major concern in the United States and the rest of the world. Due to this shortage, physician practices have faced changes when it comes to the physician reimbursement environment. Many physicians are therefore looking for alternative practice models which would suit their medical practice.
The concierge medicine model has become more prominent around the globe as many physicians are enrolling in the model. While many physicians find medical value-based reimbursement and medical payment reform challenging, the new concierge medicine model may give a solution to challenges many hospitals and physicians face today.
In the world of medicine, the concierge medicine model refers to more personalized and convenient medical services with a different financial relationship between the physician and the patient. The concierge medicine model is also referred to as membership or retainer medicine. In this model, patients pay an annual fee to an individual physician for enhancement of medical services.
Why More Physicians Are Going Concierge. Should You?
According to recent survey, more that 80% of concierge practices are categorized as either hybrid, fee-for-service extra care (FFEC) or Fee-for-service care (FFC). In hybrid business model, your physician may give you two choices which include:
In FFC business model, all patients pay a retainer to take care of most services provided by the physician in the office. In this model, you will incur extra charges for other services that fall out of your annual retainer package. In this case, the patients pay extra cash for all additional services.
In FFEC business model, all patients pay for the annual retainer, but the physician charges for any additional medical services that fall out of the retainer. In this model the patients are charged from the insurance plan.
What Is Concierge Medicine?
In all the above business models, the physician practice trends determine what medical services are included in your concierge package. The physician also decides whether the patient has to pay by use of credit card or cash. The concierge practices also decide on the retainer payments frequency and the availability of discounted medical services.
In the past, concierge medicine model was exclusive for rich patients who could afford enough cash to access top medical physicians. Now that things have changed in today’s medicine, many people have shifted to concierge medicine.
For now,
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