For decades, hospitals and health systems have relied on physician relations programs to generate referrals and build their hospital’s reputation.
However, today’s hospital market is more competitive, and physicians’ migration from private practice to employed models has further complicated how hospitals market to doctors. So, how can hospitals and health systems conduct physician relations programs in today’s world?
Referral Challenges And Complications
Employed doctors are not only tied to a specific hospital system, but they are incentivized to refer within that system. According to a Medscape poll, 84% of physicians employed by health systems have specific requirements for referring to in-network providers.* Moreover, if they contribute to patient leakage, they can face a host of negative consequences.
Specialty hospitals, including regional centers of excellence, academic medical centers, and systems seeking to build a national reputation for quality, have their own challenges. While community doctors still send patients to these tertiary institutions, they have to reach farther and wider to connect with influential physicians. It can take an army of practice ambassadors and physician relations liaisons to scale a program properly, and for most institutions, that’s just not feasible.
To efficiently reach physicians who have the influence to affect your hospital or health system’s reputation, and to drive referrals, you’ll need a strategic approach that includes a data solutions provider that specializes in the healthcare space.
Solution-Focused, Data-Driven
Healthcare data providers like HealthLink Dimensions provide hospitals and health systems with physician data for outbound campaigns via email or direct mail, for creating custom audiences on social media, and for launching programmatic ad campaigns.
With access to more than 5.2 million doctor and healthcare provider records, hospitals can target physicians and other caregivers based on medical specialty, geographic location, accepted insurance plans, commonly prescribed medications, and dozens of other characteristics. This highly detailed data makes for more targeted messaging that produces better results.
Perhaps you don’t need original, new physician names. Maybe you already have your lists built out. But do they include personal email addresses? And if they do, when were they last updated? With a data solutions partner, you can complete a long-overdue list analysis to clean out inaccurate information and append data with up-to-date, hard-to-get details on the doctors you want to reach.
Then there’s the timing of your email campaigns. At HealthLink Dimensions, we can append lists to include “When To Send” data. This vital information tells you the right day of the week – and the best time – to disseminate your messages. You can create campaigns with induvial delivery times for each provider to deliver your message when that doctor is most likely to read your email. With our When To Send data, our clients’ campaigns generated a 6.6% increase in open rates and an 8.2% increase in unique clicks.
No matter where your physician relations program stands, you can reach more doctors more efficiently when you partner with a data provider like HealthLink Dimensions. For a complimentary list analysis, a sample list, or When To Send data for a select group of doctors, visit HealthLink Dimensions at HealthLinkDimensions.com/Beckers or 404.250.3900.