Orthopedic care is among the most prevalent, most expensive, and fastest-growing categories in US healthcare. In fact, the orthopedics market is projected to grow by $756.75 million between 2023-2027. What’s more, the aging population will ensure that demand for orthopedic services remains high going forward. So, if your business wants to stay competitive in this space, you need to develop a comprehensive plan for expanding your orthopedic practice.
From Insight to Action
Understanding the booming potential of orthopedics is just the starting point. To truly take advantage of this growth, you need a well-defined strategy. However, your growth plan involves far more than adding more chairs in the waiting room or hiring more staff. This should be a multifaceted approach that combines understanding the market, offering a range of different services, ensuring an exceptional patient experience, and more.
Here are some of the key steps you can take to lay down a solid foundation for expanding your orthopedic practice:
Increase Your Market Share
To truly succeed in the orthopedic sector, you need to maintain and expand your patient base. To increase your market share, you need to understand where you currently stand, analyze the profiles of your existing patients, and determine if there are specific age groups or communities you haven’t reached out to.
This insight can guide your targeted outreach efforts, but it’s equally important to find out why some patients choose other clinics over yours. Use resources like patient feedback to learn what can set you apart from competitors and refine your services to better resonate with potential patients.
While focusing on self-improvement, don’t lose sight of the competition. Regularly tracking their market share provides a clear picture of your standing in the orthopedic landscape. By observing which of your rivals lead and which lag behind, you can adopt successful strategies and prevent pitfalls to continue expanding your orthopedic practice and staying at the forefront of patient preferences.
Expand Your Range of Services
In the constantly changing world of healthcare, staying static means being left behind. One of the best ways to continuously meet the different needs of patients and maintain your practice’s relevance is by diversifying the services you offer. For example, adding specialties like sports medicine, pediatric orthopedics, or spine surgery can expand your patient reach as well as provide more holistic care solutions to those already visiting your clinic.
However, you can’t add new services randomly, and here again thorough market and patient research are essential. You need to understand emerging trends, unmet needs, and areas where competitors might be lacking, but also reach out to your patients to get insights into the treatments and services they’d like to see more of.
Once you identify which new services to introduce, the next step is implementation. Consider hiring specialists with proven track records in these areas or investing in training programs to upskill your existing team. The goal is to seamlessly integrate new services, ensuring they meet the high standards your patients have come to expect from your practice.
When you refine your service lineup, you’ll not only keep current patients engaged but also attract new ones, continue expanding your orthopedic practice, and position it as a go-to destination for comprehensive care.
Communicate Your Brand and Value
The Association of American Medical Colleges estimated a shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians by 2034, affecting specialty and primary care. With more healthcare workers getting burned out, many orthopedic groups will face staffing challenges in 2023 and beyond.
Given that more than three-quarters of job seekers consider the employer’s brand before application, it’s important to take a step back and evaluate your brand personality and reputation as an employer.
Here, you must look through the marketing lens and evaluate how potential hires will view your brand. Good employer branding requires you to highlight your group’s positive culture, employment perks, support programs, and staff experiences and achievements. In addition, you should use the power of social media to engage potential hires and organically showcase your practice’s culture and working environment.
Also, it’s easier to attract top healthcare talents with a positive digital reputation. That’s why you need to invest in proactive management of your online reputation, showcase the positive reviews on your business listings and respond to negative reviews in a timely and empathetic manner.
Prioritize Patient Experience
If someone’s knee isn’t recovering properly after surgery, then you have to X-ray the knee, check out what is going on, and come up with a plan to fix it. In the same vein, if your office isn’t bringing in new patients, and your waiting room is often empty, then you have to take action.
Conducting patient satisfaction surveys is a good place to start, but you should also talk with staff members who interact with patients daily. These are your doctors, care coordinators, nurses, and other patient-facing staff. These steps will help you gain insights into important issues for orthopedic patients, along with their challenges and motivations.
Also, let’s not forget that people are more accepting of their role as healthcare consumers, and their expectations have shifted. One study found that 83% of consumers expect personalization in products and services and are willing to pay and share their data to get it.
Patients prefer to be treated like unique individuals with their own needs and medical circumstances. Even if they’re walking into a multi-location orthopedic practice, they want to feel like they’re visiting a small family practice. To achieve this, you can use predictive targeting data to anticipate the needs of your patients. Predictive targeting uses advanced algorithms and data analytics to forecast patient needs, behaviors, and preferences based on non-PHI data. This technology enables you to craft individualized communication strategies and determine new services you may wish to offer.
Engage in Community Outreach and Education
When it comes to expanding your orthopedic practice, it’s not just about the services you offer inside your clinic. Your external initiatives, especially those rooted in community engagement, can significantly drive growth and foster a lasting brand presence.
Educating your community about bone and joint health positions your clinic as a trusted resource and authority in orthopedic care. This trust-building process can result in new patient referrals, higher patient retention, and positive reviews, all essential components for expansion.
Also, make sure to cultivate relationships with primary care physicians, sports coaches, physical therapists, and other professionals in the healthcare ecosystem. Regularly updating these professionals about your services, treatment advancements, and success stories can keep your clinic at the forefront of their minds when recommending orthopedic care.
Set the Stage for Growth
The orthopedic sector, with its anticipated growth, presents an excellent opportunity for clinics ready to evolve and adapt. From analyzing market insights to diversifying your services, there are different pathways leading to expanding your orthopedic practice. Yet, the common thread linking each strategy is prioritizing patient experience. Whether it’s through personalized care, community outreach, or enhancing your clinic’s reputation, your commitment to exceptional patient experiences will be the cornerstone of your success.
However, navigating the complexities of the healthcare market and expanding your orthopedic practice isn’t an easy feat. Between ensuring top-quality care, managing operations, and marketing your practice, things can quickly become overwhelming, but SocialClimb can act as your strategic partner in growth.
SocialClimb offers a comprehensive suite of features tailored for healthcare providers. From using the power of predictive targeting to optimize your patient acquisition activities, to seamlessly managing online reviews and feedback, our platform ensures you’re equipped with the best solutions. This not only saves time but also empowers your practice with data-driven insights, enabling you to make informed decisions and stay ahead in the competitive landscape. All the while, SocialClimb ensures that your marketing initiatives remain fully compliant with HIPAA regulations, giving you peace of mind.
