Marketing experts will tell you that it is much easier to keep an existing patient than it is to find a new one. If that is the case why does it feel like you are losing more patients than you are keeping. Patients have become more and more fickle and less loyal to their respective healthcare providers. As little as twenty years ago, the local optometrist was one of the small business owners in the community that was thought of as one of the family. Our older population of patients can be counted on for their loyalty both to the doctor and to the dispensary. If the next generation of patients/consumers are growing more disloyal, then how do we fix the problem of losing them.
Here are three ways that successful optometry practices keep their patients for life.
- Change insurance panels – Optometrists used to be able to pick and choose what insurance panels they were on. Today there are still optometrists who are able to do that and survive, however, the new normal is learning how to be
successful with not so perfect vision benefit plans. Vision benefits have become more of a “loss leader” than they were in the past. They are your access to all primary eye care. Many experts will tell you that if the vision benefit exam reimbursement drops below your chair costs than you must drop them. What happens when 10% of your practice changes to a vision benefit plan that reimburses below chair costs? Drop the vision benefit. . . . Patient seeks another provider. . . . Patient diagnosed with glaucoma . . . Patient’s new provider bills medical insurance for all services. In the new normal, access wins. - Personal touch still matters – No matter how old or young you are, you were created to interact with other human beings. This is not a generational behavior but a biological one. Technology pushes you to interact with a screen instead of
a human. It is much more convenient to communicate via text, email or messaging, however, value is still found in knowing someone at the office cares. Selectively choosing what you will communicate person-to-person is a differentiating factor for successful offices. For example, if patients can do all their business over the internet they lose the personal feel that the office gives them. Are offices that turn all communication over to automated systems and online ordering really winning in practice growth and patient retention? - Meet patients where they are – You don’t have the time in practice to keep up with all incoming demands. If that is the case, how do you keep up with social media and the online virtual real estate that requires constant attention
and change. Many successful practices have paid optometry wise companies to manage their website and post regularly to all social media outlets. This allows the doctor and practice staff to give time and energy to other priorities. Patients are online and recommendations for your services are both word of mouth and social media driven. One of the best decisions our office made was to remove the burden of trying to keep up and hiring outside help.
Losing patients is going to happen to all optometrists. There is not one of you that has not lost a patient or two. The difference between those practices that succeed and those that fail is knowing how to limit their losses and maximize their gains. Always remember, it is easier to keep patients than to find new ones.
