Three marketing avenues may help promote orthopedic walk-in clinics
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Owners of newly or already established orthopedic walk-in clinics can market and promote their clinic directly to the consumer, through primary care clinics and within their own office, according to a presenter at the American Alliance of Orthopaedic Executives Annual Conference.
According to Kim Wishon Marden, MBA, MACMPE, CEO of Watauga Orthopaedics PLC, the hardest and most costly form of promotion is direct to consumer, which includes mass media advertising.
“This is your digital, this is your billboard, this is your radio, this is your print – all the stuff that costs a lot of money, but can be effective with getting the word out as you start,” Wishon Marden said in her presentation.
She noted another form of promotion that is not only advantageous to patients but that is also inexpensive for the walk-in clinic is through primary care offices that may also have an urgent care clinic. Although primary care clinics want to see patients who have musculoskeletal injuries, Wishon Marden said the partnership is beneficial when a patient with a more complex musculoskeletal injury presents at a primary care clinic.
“We promoted our walk-in clinic for the urgent care clinics that need the extra orthopedic knowledge,” Wishon Marden said. “[Patients who] need casting and splinting, they need surgery, they need MRI, they need an orthopedic expert after they have already been X-rayed and diagnosed further. For those, we have a lot of patients who visit our primary care urgent cares that then come to our office for secondary follow-up through our walk-in clinics.”
Finally, Wishon Marden said the least expensive way to promote an orthopedic walk-in clinic is through already established patients.
“You already have patients who are coming to your clinic. They may have already received surgery, and so promoting that within your existing clinic is a great way to get the word out,” she said.
She noted this can be done through portal messages, email blasts and posting signage around the office and exam rooms. Promoting an orthopedic walk-in clinic to established patients may also help practices that participate in a Bundled Payment for Care Improvement (BPCI) initiative, according to Wishon Marden.
“All those BPCI bundle patients, we ask to come to our office to check them out before they go to the hospital and a lot of the times, we can help them without a [readmission] or without a visit to the emergency room and the patient is happier for that matter,” Wishon Marden said. – by Casey Tingle
Reference:
Wishon Marden K. Orthopedic urgent care success formula. Presented at: American Alliance of Orthopaedic Executives Annual Conference; May 1-4, 2020 (virtual meeting).
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Wishon Marden K. Orthopedic urgent care success formula. Presented at: American Alliance of Orthopaedic Executives Annual Conference; May 1-4, 2020 (virtual meeting).
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