Marketing and Family Medicine

[winterbright]

Hi, everyone. I have a general question that's more on the marketing side of family medicine/primary care.

Are family physicians in private practice, be it a small urban/suburban office or a private clinic or private hospital, in general, always open to receiving more patients/appointments, or do FM practices rapidly become so established that they have very little need of marketing that brings in more patients/appointments?

It's probably a bit of a what color is a flower kind of question, as there are so many factors. But as someone who is in marketing and is thinking about launching an appointment-setting type service for family physicians, I was wondering how, in the main, new and established urban and suburban family medicine practices view marketing that can bring in more patients/appointments. If new, are they in general looking for a marketing boost? If established, are they in general willing to increase their patient roster/appointment load if the opportunity arises?

Would really appreciate any thoughts, guys. Thanks!

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[deleted87716]

It's variable. New doctors and new practices are obviously going to be more interested in marketing themselves than somebody who's well established or so full they're not accepting new patients. In general, primary care physicians don't have to do a lot of marketing. Most of our business is driven either by insurance, location (convenience), or word of mouth.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Yeah the biggest hurdle for a new office is just letting people know that its there.

If its a new doctor in an established office, much less work (if any) is needed. You start out seeing overflow from your partners and just build up your own practice at the same time going off of the practice's known existence.

 

[winterbright]

Thanks, both.

 

[septoplasty]

Also, a vast majority of primary care offices are employed, thus the marketing aspect is handled by the hospital system..

Contracts for physicians who are employed general also have a clause that say you can't directly market or hire an outside firm..