How to Improve Scalability, Patient Satisfaction and Revenue Through In-Office, Educational Videos

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Hello, and welcome to the Healthcare Success Podcast. I'm glad to have you listening today, or viewing, depending on how you're seeing us.

Today, I welcome Carol Gifford, first of all. Carol, I have worked with before, and my team has worked with for years doing video shoots on location. In fact, Carol just returned from one of our client shoots, so that's really exciting.

So, welcome, Carol. And also, Dr. Steve Moravec, who is one of Carol's clients, and we have some fun things to talk about today of how to use video very effectively within your business. So welcome, both of you.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Great to be here.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Thanks for having us, Stewart.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yeah, very good. So, you know, Carol, you and I have, as I said a moment ago, have known each other for years, and we were talking about a case example of—okay, there's videos, there's doctor videos, right? Hospitals and practices, multi-location businesses, they all like to have doctor footage. They all like to have testimonial footage from patients, and that's really good.

But what we're talking about today is: how do we really maximize the utility of a video shoot, right? A lot of times when we've shot video as an agency—both working with you and then before we knew you—we could cut commercials from it, we would get B-roll, we would do a lot while we're shooting. Like, we're there, we might as well take a lot of footage.

But the topic today is going to talk about how to do that—but really, how to maximize other creative ways of using this.

So this is great for practices like orthopedics, orthodontics, plastic surgery, ophthalmology, or businesses that really have this. So first of all, Steve—I guess you're an orthodontist. Tell us about your practice.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I've been in practice a long time—about 40 years this fall. We celebrate our 40th anniversary.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Congratulations.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I'm kind of almost unique—or I don't want to say a dinosaur now—but I have one location, one doctor, which in today's medical dental world is a bit unusual.

My practice is in suburban Chicago. I would say if there's a quintessential suburban practice, it's probably mine. It's a very middle-class area. Our demographics are getting more and more diverse, like I think all suburbs are now.

My typical family—they might be teachers, nurses, first responders, a software developer—that type of socioeconomic situation.

A lot of our patients—even though orthodontics is trending more and more toward adult treatment—we're still probably 75%–80% adolescents or kids.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yep.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): That's an important consideration when you're talking about communication, I think.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yeah, for sure. You know, it's funny, Steve—Kathy Gaughran has worked with me for years, and I've talked about this over dinner at times. Like, if we had to come back as a doctor, what would we be? And orthodontists would be one of our favorites, right? It’s consumer-friendly, nobody dies, there's not a lot of blood, you're dealing with teenagers…

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): It's funny. I do agree. A lot. I really do. I hear from my other dental professionals—God, I wish I’d have gone to orthodontic school.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yeah—like, I could do a root canal now, or I could hang out with a bunch of teenagers. It’s profitable, it’s fun, and you can promote it.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I couldn't have been happier with the profession I chose, really. We have a lot of fun at work—we really do. We have a great staff, and we have a lot… Carol can testify how my staff is.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): We do. You have a lot of fun in your practice.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): I love it. That's exactly the kind of orthodontic practice that thrives. So what was the vision you had for developing some patient education videos? We talked about the basics—getting some doctor footage and patient footage. What was the vision—and the idea of having videos for patient education specifically?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I think the two main reasons for us were consistent messaging—very consistent messaging—and saving the staff time and boredom, to tell you the truth.

Those are the main issues. And maybe a third is to differentiate ourselves from other practices around. Getting a second opinion is much more common in my business now than it was even 10 years ago.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Very interesting. I love that idea of—I'm sorry—go ahead.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Yeah, everybody's getting a second opinion.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Interesting. Okay—so I love the idea of consistency. Let me jump in and share a quick anecdote and see if you relate to this. A number of years ago, we were working with a large testosterone replacement therapy business.

They loved this idea from a compliance standpoint—to make sure patients had full disclosure and informed consent. Otherwise, especially with multiple locations, a well-meaning employee could get enthusiastic and forget the really important stuff. Do you agree? Is that an important issue?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Yeah, I think that's… when I was thinking about this, I have a staff of 15, and probably 12 of them are involved in direct patient communication at some point—whether it's instructions or information.

They have varying levels of skills in speaking and listening. We've eliminated that factor—so it's one message consistent across the board.

We don't have to worry about if Gina forgot to do this, or Stephanie forgot to do this, or somebody added something we don't do anymore—because we try to change. We want that message to really be my message, not somebody else's message.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): I love that. And expanding on that for a sec: you have your brand—you have things the way you want to say it. You want to make sure it's factual and correct.

And look at the realities today—even as an individual doctor or part of a larger group—you have turnover. Not everybody starts completely ready to go, knowing the business really well. There's room for error, and mistakes are high. Mistakes can be really costly—for safety, liability, lots of things. Any other comments on that?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): As far as consistency goes, there are really two types of videos Carol produced for us.One is an informational video we would give to a new patient—like, “we’re going to use this procedure,” or “this explains how Invisalign works,” or “this explains how braces work.” That’s for a new patient coming into the office that we want to sign up for treatment.

The second is more of an instructional video we give patients as part of the initial start of their process—or maybe at the end. Every patient gets a retainer, so we have a video on retainers. So those are the two types we’re really using.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s really interesting. So are the ones that explain the procedure—what you’re about to do—thought through from a case presentation standpoint, safety standpoint, all of that?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): More of a case presentation standpoint. There are maybe three, four, five things that are fairly common in orthodontics that you might want to present—we have those on video.

For more unique things, we have another system. An example would be: we do a lot of clear aligners, a lot of Invisalign, so we have a video that explains all about Invisalign. It’s about two and a half to three minutes, and it nails down what we think is important for patients to understand about Invisalign.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s great. I mentioned this to you offline—we did a couple of videos for Invisalign about how to present cases, and this wasn’t something we included in our video about how to use video, right?

But what’s interesting is: when it’s done right—and this was confirmed in our research, and through conversations with platinum-level practices—there’s usually a very specific process for case presentation.

From the beginning—when they bring the patient in—to what happens during the exam, and finally payment. But I love the idea of knowing with confidence that the patient understands what they're getting into.

Do you usually show the videos prior to meeting you, so they have a better understanding and ask better questions?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Yeah—and it’s great that you said that. Some of our videos—more instructional videos—have staff as the on-camera personality. For the informational videos, I’m the on-camera personality.

The typical procedure in our office: a patient comes in, our staff members who deal with new patients—we call them treatment coordinators—they’ll get all the records. They kind of know what they need, and they can check in with me. They show them the videos before I come in—for sure.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): So do they feel like you're a rock star when you meet them?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): That’s so accurate. A 10-year-old boy—I’ll walk in the room and he’ll say, “Oh yeah, you’re the guy—I just saw the video.”

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yeah, for sure.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): It sets me up as an authority figure, too, I think—before I even start talking.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Absolutely. The power of video is amazing. Like, we’re doing our podcast, which will be available on audio streaming and also on YouTube. On streaming services, it’s great because people feel like they know us after listening. The video is even stronger—it’s such a human connection. It’s really powerful.

I love that you incorporate video into the case presentation. You’re setting it up—it’s non-scary. And I’m assuming it’s perfect for spouses who weren’tthere, when they want to go home and talk about it, or they’re not clear what they learned.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): We can either send them a link directly, or it’s on our website and our YouTube pages—these videos are there. So yes—it’s great if they’re not there, exactly, or if they can’t zoom into the consultation meeting.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Great. And the idea of: how do you take care of your retainers, all those issues—that’s great, too. Because I’m a patient sometimes, and it’s funny—I like to think I’m pretty smart, but there are times I go back like, “What exactly did they say again?”

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Right…

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): And if that’s me, and I’m not a 14-year-old kid, I can see why that would be really helpful to parents or kids later on. Is that true? Does that work out that way?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Yeah, it’s very true. For example, I just had my knee replaced a week ago, and I’m constantly referring back to the little paper they give you with all the instructions. It’d be nice if I could just watch a video—I’d retain it a lot better.

I think retention with a video is much better than a piece of paper. And even worse is my staff trying to explain something.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s fantastic. When we were preparing for this, my understanding is your case conversion went up—and you guys are now at about 80% using the video. Tell us about that. That’s really exciting.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I think it goes back to what we said. Differentiating ourselves—because no other practice around me is doing this. No other practice.

I think it makes us look professional. Carol does a great job—these videos are outstanding. Patients aren’t seeing that in any other office.

We’re not missing anything or omitting anything. And it allows my treatment coordinators a little downtime when new patients are there. They can step out of the room, gather their thoughts, come talk to me while patients are watching the videos.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): By the way, Carol—we’ll come back to you, I promise.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): That’s fine. I’m loving listening to it.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): So what about saving time? We talked about consistent messaging—which I can’t stress enough—from a sales standpoint, compliance standpoint, safety standpoint. Patients know what they’re buying.

But time savings and efficiency—tell me more about that.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I was thinking about two videos we use a lot—the instructional videos. Two of the main ones: when you’re done with treatment, you have a retainer—care for and wear your retainers.

The second: if you get braces—what are the instructions? What happens if the wire comes out? What can you eat? Those kinds of things.

Each of those videos is about five to five-and-a-half minutes. To quantify it: we start about 500 patients a year, more or less.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yep.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): So each patient is watching, say, 11 minutes of video. That’s 5,500 minutes of video—which is 92 hours.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yeah, but I think it’s bigger than that because you’re probably getting fewer phone calls afterward.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Yeah—seriously. We text them the videos before their appointment. Ideally, they’ve watched them at home before they come in.

If they haven’t—let’s say they’re coming to get their retainers—our front desk asks, “Did you watch the video?” If they did, great. If they didn’t, we give them an iPad to watch in the waiting room.

So it’s not taking up clinical chair time. It’s done outside the clinic—either at home or in the waiting room.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): It’s also interesting—if I were the treatment coordinator, I’d think: “Oh, they watched the video—they’re qualified, they’re more interested, they’re serious.”

bet if you went back and looked at closure rate, it would be better if they watched the video in advance, because it showed they were all in.

How have staff and patients embraced it? What’s their feedback?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I think there would be a revolt if we said we’re not going to do this anymore. If they had to go back to holding a model of braces and showing how to brush and do all that stuff—they would revolt.

It would be the same as if I said, “We’re going to start working Fridays and Saturdays.”

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s awesome. I love it. Let’s pivot to Carol for a minute. Carol, you suggested we bring Steve to the podcast—which is great. Steve, by the way, it’s great meeting you. I love this kind of stuff.

When I started doing this—many decades ago—we worked interactively with individual doctors. There’s always a part of my heart that loves this very real-world: how do you do it, how do you make it fit, how does it work together?

Carol—tell me some of your secrets. Not all of them today—but how did you bring this to life? What should people thinking about this kind of video be aware of?

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): First of all, working with Steve is great because he knows exactly what he wants to communicate, and he really knows his audience. When he came to me with these videos, there was so much content. We talked about it, and he had already started writing some scripts.

There were different ways we could do it, but since there was so much information, we thought it would be best to do it through a teleprompter.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yep.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Teleprompter is good, but the trick is you want the person reading to look natural. You want it to be authentic—you don’t want them to look like they’re reading off a teleprompter.

But it was a great way to do it because we had a ton of content, and we weren’t going to be able to get it through an interview-based situation. We blocked out the morning for the reads. Steve did four videos, and two different staff members did the others.

reads through five minutes of content perfectly, so we broke it into parts. But we wanted people to look natural, to smile, to have fun with it.

Then we had the afternoon for B-roll—getting footage of the practice in action and the components we’d need to make the videos interesting, educational, and easy to understand.

Steve has fun in his practice with patients—there are a ton of teenagers—and he likes to infuse humor into the videos. One example: he wanted to communicate “don’t lose your retainer.” If you lose it, it’s going to cost you—or your parent—what, $200?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Yeah, something like that.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Something like that. So: don’t wrap it up in a tissue—because it’s going to end up in the garbage.

We filmed Steve in the dumpster behind the practice. He knows his audience—teenage boys and girls. You have to grab their attention, have fun with the information, and educate them at the same time.

Steve prepared his practice for filming. Sometimes we walk in and the practice has no idea why we’re there. But everyone was on board. We wanted to get it done in one day, so we packed a lot into a one-day shoot.

It was great. And I think it was probably a three-week turnaround.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Yeah, it’s very fast. This was our second go-around. The first time we did it in studio.This was our second go-around.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Probably like a six-week process from beginning to end.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): The first time was like five, six, seven years ago—whenever that was. And it was more fun doing it in the office, quite frankly.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Right—and that’s another way to do it. We filmed against a green screen—a neutral background—so we could add graphics and text.

But doing it in his practice the second time personalized it more.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Those are all decisions. If you’re new to video, some people listening—VPs or CMOs—have done a lot of video, but some may not be as familiar.

You need to figure out the scene—what it’s going to look like. Green screen with titles? Real locations?

Little things people don’t think about—noise, for example. You may need to shut down the office. You’ll have people running around. You’ve got to get releases. There’s a lot to consider.

A tip: if doctors worry about what to say, speak it into AI and have it cleaned up. It can remove ums and ahs and be a good first draft. People get stuck on the blank page.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Right.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): It’s perfect—you get a draft, then figure out how you’re going to do it.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Right.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Don’t make it so hard.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Right.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Or just write what you would say, and then you get it out.

That’s great, Carol. Planning the shoot—Carol is acting as producer and director. You’re planning, and then you’re directing once you’re there.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Right.Exactly.

It’s always great to get footage where a practice is happening—seeing patients. If you do it right and the practice cooperates, it’s nice because it’s real—real patients, real practice operating—and we’re documenting it.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): I love it. We certainly have shoots with live patients in the background—we always have releases—but you have to be aware and work with a professional.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Yes.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): There are so many little things you’d never think about—color, noise. I saw footage recently where there was a copy machine while the doctor was speaking. You don’t notice unless you work with a team that knows what they’re doing.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Right.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Before we wrap up, I have a couple other questions.

Steve—one thing I thought was interesting: teenagers and preteens actually like video more than listening to you talk. Is that true?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): It’s hard to believe. It’s hard to believe, I know.And definitely better than looking at a piece of paper.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Yeah, for sure. We talked about family members who aren’t at the appointment. Last thing: the fact that it differentiates—do you think that’s a competitive advantage?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Yeah, for sure. I have no doubt about it. People say, “This explains it so well—I understand it.”

It saves me so much time when I go into the room. I can say, “I know you saw the video.” Then I just answer questions.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s awesome. Final bits of advice from either of you?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I’d say: we do have some humor in our videos, but it depends on the practice. Orthodontics—we’re not doing brain surgery or curing childhood cancer—so there can be more humor.

And make sure the content isn’t dated. You don’t want to do these every year. You want them to last. I think our first ones lasted about five years.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Five years, yeah—they lasted five years.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): So make sure what you say isn’t something that will go away quickly or get replaced. Make sure the message can be conveyed over and over.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s great. I totally agree. You were on-camera talent—and that matters. If you can deliver the message, great. If you have to use someone else, that’s another decision—especially for multi-location businesses.

You can do multiple takes. You can use two cameras to add dynamism. Knowing the script is helpful, too.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Right. Another thing: sometimes a client wants an overview of their practice, patient testimonials, meet the doctors. We try to be efficient and pack as much into a day as possible.

We often film as much as we can so we have it in the bank. Maybe we leave with 10 “Meet the Doctors,” an overview, and a couple testimonials—but we also have footage we can edit later.

We try to get as much bang for your buck as possible—so we film more than we’ll use right away.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): That’s super great. You can’t splice something in if you don’t have it. I miss shooting—I love directing shoots.

We would overshoot. It would be that one thing we needed—then we’d have it. It’s so great to overshoot and have extra content.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): You can pull still photos, too. And one thing clients can do is think ahead about video. Steve knew exactly how he wanted to use these videos.

Video can be used on so many platforms: website, social media, waiting room, patient consults. Thinking about that ahead of time is helpful when we develop the video.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): I really agree. Our agency works with clients on that part, too—helping publicize video on social and other channels. Carol works with her clients on this as well.

Carol—how do people reach you? What’s your website?

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): It’s DocsOnVideo.com—D-O-C-S-O-N-V-I-D-E-O dot com. And you can reach out at [email protected].

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Great. And Steve, in case you’re in Plainfield, Illinois—what’s your website?

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Moravec Ortho. M-O-R-A-V-E-C Ortho.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Very good. Last question: can I put some of these videos on the website so people get a sense of what they look like? Would you be okay with that?

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Absolutely.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): I’m perfectly fine with that.

Stewart Gandolf (Healthcare Success): Alright—so if you’re listening on the streaming platform or on YouTube, go to HealthcareSuccess.com, search for this podcast, and you’ll be able to find links to the videos as well. Guys, it’s been great. I appreciate your time today. Very good job. Thank you.

Steve Moravec (Moravec Ortho): Okay—enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Nice to see you, Carol.

Carol Gifford (Docs on Video): Nice to see you!