The Patient Acquisition Evolution: A Sneak Peek

With today’s rapid shift in the patient pathway to obtaining healthcare, it feels like eons since people went to their primary care physicians for referral to a specialist. The reality is that online resources are swiftly impacting the way patients seek out and select providers. With the internet prompting a rapid evolution in patient acquisition from word of mouth to the digital scene, the search for providers has become reminiscent of online shopping.

rater8, the leader in healthcare reputation management, presents “The Patient Acquisition Evolution: From Jurassic to Fantastic,” a speaking engagement to be shared exclusively at the AAOE 2023 Annual Conference in April. Speaking will be rater8’s Founder and CEO, Evan Steele, whose career in healthcare information technology spans over 20 years.

Evan holds a personal passion for delivering phenomenal customer service, ergonomic software design, and the effective implementation of technology to improve patient care. As such, Evan’s talk will cover how orthopedic practices can adapt to healthcare’s changing digital landscape to drive patient acquisition going forward.

Below, rater8 offers a highlight from their talk and a sneak peek at what attendees can expect to take away.

Talk Highlight: Patient Acquisition Starts in the Search Bar

The moment a patient searches online for a medical service or provider, your medical practice begins to make its first impression. People expect to be able to find what they need online immediately. That first impression may be the difference between an appointment scheduled and a missed opportunity.

Reputation Matters

Whether potential patients are looking for information, directions, or hours, your medical practice needs to be at the top of the search results to be easily found. A recent Doctor.com survey found that patients now rely on online resources nearly 2x more than they do referrals.

However, being at the top of search results won’t help if you have poor ratings across Google and other top healthcare review sites. This is because patients are increasingly exhibiting “shopping” behaviors. Nearly half of all patients consult multiple third-party sites to make healthcare choices, involving an average of 2.6 sources in their decision-making process (Doctor.com). If you have negative reviews, patients are certain to “shop” elsewhere.

Improving the number, quality, and timeliness of your online reviews is increasingly important. But it isn’t enough for patients to be able to find you easily; when they find your practice, you need to be ready.

Make it Easy to Take Action

Having a strong, user- and mobile-friendly website ensures visitors can quickly find what they’re looking for and easily take action.

Do potential patients have to call to find out what insurance you accept, or does your website clearly state that information? Does your website explain how your practice differs from your competitors? If you’re a large practice, is your website organized by specialty and subspecialty? No one wants to click through dozens of orthopedic provider pages trying to find a shoulder specialist.

Perhaps most importantly, do you offer online scheduling? Notably, 60% of patients say ease of booking is key to a 5-star review (Doctor.com). If you do offer online scheduling, is your “Book Appointment” button easy to find? It’s crucial to consider these questions as you reflect on your online presence.

Sneak Peek: Attendee Takeaways
 

Attendees to rater8’s talk at the AAOE 2023 Annual Conference can expect to learn how to:

• Recognize where their practice could improve its digital presence as patient preferences shift to align with what patients now expect to see online.
• Assess which digital patient acquisition strategies will most successfully address any shortcomings, and integrate them with their practice’s marketing plan.
• Use analytics tools to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of their digital marketing strategy over time.
• Prepare for inevitable change in the patient pathway to obtaining healthcare, and plan for the ongoing patient acquisition evolution accordingly.

rater8 and AAOE look forward to welcoming attendees in April!