Physician Marketing – A Question of Balance

by Scott Mosley, Vice President of Strategy

Over the course of my career, few things have consistently presented more significant challenges than development of physician relationships.  Search the published literature and you’ll find very little of a comprehensive roadmap for building physician referral volume.  There is really no set formula to guide a process which is, by necessity, tailored to individual physicians guided by their particular practice dynamics. Dr. Stephen C. Beason, author of Engaging Physicians: A Manual to Physician Partnership, points out that “physician support of a particular health system is based on factors that many healthcare leaders don’t recognize, leaving well-intentioned leaders to wonder in frustration why physicians maintain a distance in their hospital relationship.”  I’d suggest this common dilemma is rooted in failure to understand the nature of the hospital-physician value proposition. The Value Proposition In the end, physicians do for a healthcare organization what the organization has done for them.  They will partner with healthcare leaders when trust and confidence are earned, clinical efficiency is consistently demonstrated and they are provided meaningful input in guiding the priorities of the organization.  They must have faith in a true “balance” between the needs of the hospital and needs of the physician in setting the organization’s agenda.  This faith in a “balanced” approach to guiding the hospital’s development is the essence of effective physician marketing. Physicians and health system leaders want the same things.  They depend on each other to achieve their respective goals.  Good outcomes are assured in the presence of trust and collaboration – the foundation for an engaged relationship.  This is the primary source of mutual value to the healthcare organization and its medical partners; an engaged, mutually-beneficial working relationship.  It’s hard to achieve and even harder to maintain. Communications Synergy The importance of synergy across the full scope of communications can’t be overstated.  The organization's messages targeting physicians and consumers must reinforce each other.  The goal is a sense of confidence, shared by the medical community and the patients they treat at or refer to your organization. Achieving this shared sense of confidence is a function of three things.  First, the way that people who provide service and support to physicians and patients conduct themselves.  Hiring the right people, training them well and providing them with the right incentives are all of vital importance.  Secondly, being crystal clear in how the organization frames its messaging and the image it promotes.  Finally, views on the quality of the organization’s clinical products and processes are a vital factor in building confidence with physicians as well as the general public. Strategic Framework Ten Adams believes that there are five strategic focuses at the core of effective physician marketing. Administrative Leadership Engagement Outreach Program/Coordinators Education/Medical Orientation Print/Electronic Communications Data on Utilization/Referral Patterns I’ll address each of these focuses in subsequent blog posts, but let me offer a closing thought for this post: The era of integration has arrived.  It’s time to re-evaluate all our customer relationships – and include the physician in this process.  Physicians are a healthcare organization’s best customers, affording the greatest marketing opportunity, when we create relationships that work.  We are destined to negotiate a dramatic shift in how healthcare is delivered, together.