Poke around online briefly and this prediction appears. It heralds the need for doctors to change and accept healthcare consumerism: “The medical world expects ‘patients’ to bear up patiently. But the medical world needs to learn to live with ‘consumers.’” What’s most surprising is that this quote is more than three decades old. It’s from […]
Our podcast today is another in our series for the Physician Strategies Summit. In today’s interview, Healthcare Success Founding Partner Lonnie Hirsch talks with Martin Hickey, MD, CEO, New Mexico Health Connections, Albuquerque, NM. As the Accountable Care Act (ACA) continues to unfold, it introduces new nonprofit health plans aimed at uninsured individuals and small […]
Massachusetts primary care physician groups—some 500 of them—are the focus of a first-in-the-nation comparison from Consumer Reports. As we see it, medical providers, practices, and healthcare and medical practice marketing professionals in the other 49 states will want to take note for several key reasons: 1. Ratings primarily reflect the “patient experience”—and are marketing significant. […]
If you’re a little behind in reading your Federal Register subscription, we see that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is proposing to use “secret shoppers,” perhaps in your office. The HHS wants to sample Primary Care Physicians’ (PCPs) wait times, accessibility and availability. In government talk, the Proposed Project is titled Assessing […]
gold·en goose • n. a continuing source of wealth or profit that may be exhausted if it is misused. Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English You’ve probably heard the “golden goose” story. It’s been around since about the 5th century and there are several versions of the fable. Unfortunately, there’s a healthcare marketing version that’s […]
Neil H. Baum, MD Today the patient is far different than the patient of a few decades ago. Patients can find healthcare information just as easily as a physician and many are taking a greater role in their healthcare and want to be involved in the decision making and work with the doctor as a […]
A few days ago, a news item in the Philadelphia Business Journal caught our eye; a primary care practice was switching to a concierge medicine model—in a blue-collar neighborhood. Concierge practice marketing can be challenging anywhere because patients are typically required to pay an annual fee to enjoy a more personalized level of service. It's […]
Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, is turning-up the heat in family practice marketing. It’s been ages since the corner “drug store” confined it’s offering to only pharmaceuticals. But about 350 Walgreens locations are now part of the changing competitive healthcare landscape and likely to be an increasingly important factor to consider in FP, GP, […]
