Get your recovery plan in place for your medical practice so you’ll be positioned to act when the time is right.
The pandemic has negatively impacted economic growth across the globe, and your medical practice is likely no exception. As restrictions begin to ease up across the nation, it’s critical to move forward with a plan in place. And while it’s important to step forward with care as we implement new guidelines for health and safety, when it comes to a recovery plan for your medical practice, it’s a different story.
Your practice will need to grow aggressively in order to catch up with your 2020 plan. As you begin to fill your schedule with appointments and elective procedures, the best way to grow is to bring in the most profitable patients. Our predictive analytics tools will identify those patients for you so we can then target them with Google Ads.
We’ve set up a three-phase plan you can put in motion now that will position you to schedule profitable patients when the timing is right for your practice. Whether your patients start trickling in or come in a flood, this plan will help you manage the flow to fit your circumstances and make sure you’re working with patients who are the best fit for the needs of your practice.
COVID-19 Recovery Plan for Medical Practices
Phase 1: PUT THINGS IN MOTION NOW
- Get your GBP listings in shape. Optimize your GBP listings and use postings to push out your information as needed. Make sure to use Google’s new link functions to attach information and telemedicine options.
- Set up your targeted ads. Prepare to release your ads when the time is right.
- Our Predictive Analytics will show you where the patients you want are now.
- Let us know which physicians will be running ads to capture the recovery opportunity that’s coming.
Phase 2: STAY CONNECTED WITH YOUR PATIENTS
- Maintain your visibility. Show up where patients are looking, whether it’s on your website, your GBP listing, or via texts and email.
- Share your care options. Make sure your patients are well informed of your telemedicine care options and your urgent care protocol. We can send out email and text notifications for you and help you update your GMB listings, just let us know.
- Reassure patients that you will open soon. Let your patients know that you will be open soon through text messages, emails, GBP listings, and your website.
Phase 3: ACT WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT
- Keep your patients informed. Let your patients know when you will be open for appointments as soon as you can, and continue to reassure them of your safety precautions.
- Activate your ads. Turn on the ads you prepared in phase one to capture patients looking for immediate care. Make sure you’re seen at their decision-making points.
- Collect your reviews. Be prepared to receive a flood of data as reviews are made visible. Make sure you don’t miss the valuable reviews you have received during the pandemic.
Implementing this recovery plan will help your medical practice grow quickly. Let us know that you want to implement the plan, and we will help you get started and do most of the heavy lifting so you can focus on the needs of your patients. As you move forward to aggressively recover and grow your practice, we can’t overstate the importance of keeping your patients well informed throughout the process to ensure their loyalty.
Retain Loyalty With Excellent Patient Communication
In addition to implementing the medical practice recovery plan we’ve outlined above, it’s important to retain the loyalty of your current patients with excellent communication. Many of your patients are scared or confused. Be their voice of authority. Provide updates and let them know what you are doing to keep them safe and what they can do to minimize their risk of infection. Some of your patients could be using this time when appointments are being canceled and procedures rescheduled to shop around a bit. Give them good reason to trust you. If you keep your communications going and inform them of measures you’re taking to keep them safe, you will build your relationship so they stick with you long term.
Announce your telemedicine options. Make sure you have clearly announced your telemedicine options. You should have this information posted and linked on your GBP listing, visible on your website, sent to them via email, and announced through text messages. You may not be trying to keep it a secret, but if you are not actively promoting the information, the effect will be the same. Medical consumers are looking for doctors who offer teleconsultations. Make sure you are seen by those who are looking. It is possible that the new normal after the surge will include telemedicine as a more permanent part of healthcare than it was before. Be prepared to extend the option as needed to meet the needs and soothe the concerns of your patients.
Minimize gaps in reviews. When Google searches for the best options to present in their Local 3-pack on Local Search, recency matters. You could be coming in at the top of search results now, but if you have a gap in your reviews, that could drop you in search results down the road as you’re working to rebuild your schedule. Keep those reviews coming in, or if you’ve had to pause, make sure you turn reviews back on as soon as possible. Google will choose those who have recent reviews over those who have not received reviews in a while. Keep in mind that even though Google My Business reviews are not showing up right now, patients can still be leaving reviews. Since those reviews can still be entered (just not seen), it makes sense that they will show up when GMB returns to normal functions. Most other platforms are still receiving reviews.
Let Us Help You Recover Your Practice
It’s difficult to predict what the new normal will look like over the ensuing weeks and months. It’s possible your schedules will be full to bursting with rescheduled procedures and appointments. On the other hand, it could be that medical consumers will hesitate to seek care out of fear of the ongoing possibility of infection. Whatever the case, you need to grow aggressively with a plan in place to make up for the recent setbacks you’ve experienced.
Wherever you are, and whatever you’re facing, we offer our support and hope to be part of your solution. During the pandemic, we can use our integrated platform to help send communications and update your GBP listings. We can turn on ads if you are looking to fill your schedule with patients who need to be seen right away. We can also help you implement a recovery plan tailored to the needs of your medical practice.
Either way, we thank you for your continued commitment to our nation’s health, especially in such trying circumstances. Let’s get through this together. Please call us at 866-338-8270 with any questions.
