ACAM Integrative Medicine (IM) Blog

Market Your Practice With Facebook

by Michelle Schiavo

Social Media is a great tool for health care providers to reach out to their patients and the public beyond their practices. Leading the way in Social Media is Facebook with over 750 million active users.

While some physicians and health care practitioners may be wary of creating a Facebook presence, it’s really a great way to disseminate information, connect with patients, and even grow your practice. Should Your Doctor Be On Facebook? is an article written by an NYC doctor about Facebook etiquette for physicians and is a great reference for practitioners new to Social Media.

Your Facebook page should represent your brand and the best way to do this is with a “Fan Page”. You may have heard of Facebook “Groups”, but they are a bit limited in terms of security and messaging capabilities and you’ll find a fan page to be more beneficial for marketing purposes. When visitors become fans of your page it displays on their “Wall” informing their “Friends” who may then also become a fan of your page. Additionally, fan pages are indexed by external search engines such as Google, whereas group pages are not.

ACAM member, Shira Miller, MD, has done exemplary work with her Facebook page. Shortly after its creation, her page boasted over 5,000 fans. How did she do it? By creating a unique page, communicating with her fans, and sharing her expertise on a consistent basis. Dr. Miller’s practice focuses on menopause and andropause, so that is the information she shares on her page. By providing a certain niche, in Dr. Miller’s case female and male hormone information, she’s setting herself apart and attracting a segment of the population that could potentially come into her practice and become new patients. Visit Dr. Miller’s Facebook fan page here.

There are over 900 million objects (pages, groups, events, and community pages) that people interact with on Facebook. The average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups, and events. With so many brands and companies represented on Facebook, how do you make yourself stand out? You’ll notice on some pages, for example on Dr. Miller’s page, there are unique elements that are not found on other Facebook pages. When you arrive at Dr. Miller’s page, you don’t see the standard Facebook wall showing updates and conversations, you see a large picture of Dr. Miller, a description of who she is and what she does, and a request to “like” her page. In order to gain access to her page, visitors must click the like button and become fans. This fan-gating feature is called a “Landing Page” and is a great way to increase your fan count.

You can create a landing page as well as many other unique touches with the use of apps. ACAM’s Facebook page is a prime example of a page that’s utilized apps to add more creativity and functionality to a page. Through custom apps, fans of ACAM may connect to ACAM doctors on Facebook, the ACAM website, ACAM Integrative Medicine Blog, and more all right from our Facebook page. Visit our page here and see the different elements we’ve added that you too can add to your page.

There are apps already built into Facebook that you can access at no charge. Or for a fee you can partner with a company that has designed customized apps for Facebook in user-friendly formats. Most of these companies have various price plans depending on the number of fans a page has.

Companies to consider:

NorthSocial
SocialAppsHQ

Questions? Or looking for a little assistance with your page? ACAM’s Marketing Team is happy to help! Please contact Michelle Schiavo - Social Impact Coordinator for ACAM at: michelle.schiavo@acam.org.

Enhance your practice with E-billing

 

by Michelle Schiavo

     

As technology continues to advance the healthcare industry, physicians are discovering the benefits of electronic billing. Reduce your staff's billing administration time and consider switching to electronic billing. Kareo, an Irvine CA based company can help. 

What is Kareo?

Kareo is a web-based medical billing and practice management software program. CEO, Dan Rodrigues founded the company in 2004 and had two goals: to create a software that is affordable and easy to use.

In the past, software companies sold a ‘client-server model’ where a physician would have to buy hardware, plus the server, have a representative come to the office for a demo, and come back again to install and train. This process was very time and cost-intensive. At the time, this process was acceptable, because most people were not highly educated consumers in terms of purchasing technology, including physicians.

Then came the release of the iPhone and people started to really understand what a consumer-oriented engagement is with technology. Many doctors got the iPhone and started developing a taste for what technology should be like. This is when Kareo came into the picture and decided to mimic this new experience.

What makes Kareo different?

When you visit the Kareo website, 90 to 95 percent of what a consumer wants to understand and needs to know is right there and easily accessible. The buying experience is done online, sign-up takes about 30 to 45 seconds, you receive your log in information and you’re ready to go.

Additionally, Kareo’s software is delivered in the ‘cloud’ versus on a web server, which means physicians can use their existing software, get into a browser, download the app, and they’re in. No matter where physicians are, they can access data from Kareo.

Kareo’s website also offers thought leadership content. They’ve partnered with experts that write content specifically for Kareo regarding not only medical billing, but other issues physicians are concerned about such as HIIPA, meaningful use and other items of interest that have come out of health care reform and stimulus. This content goes on the Kareo blog and they also incorporate that information into their thinking about product perspective, delivery, and sales experience.

How can Kareo help integrative physicians?

Kareo makes it simple for doctors to get paid. Whether it’s billing patients and being able to accept payments via credit card online or filing insurance claims, Kareo’s goal is to get the doctor maximum reimbursement in the quickest possible amount of time.

Kareo’s software allows physicians to keep track of finances, look at and analyze their client base and schedule appointments. From Kareo’s Dashboard, which users see when they log in, there are short-cuts that link to key functions, a list of tasks that need to be completed and a snapshot of financial metrics. Part of the financial metrics is the Payment Velocity feature. This number is featured in a large orange display and tells the number of days on average it’s taking the practitioner to receive payment from the time of service to the time payment has been posted.

Many practitioners use programs where only 60 to 70 percent of the features apply to them and the remaining 30 to 40 percent is almost always work-arounds. Kareo specializes their software specifically for physical therapists, chiropractors, dermatologists, etc. They understand that there are nuances in certain practices regarding the way they have to bill and how they have to document and one standard program will not work for every practice.

What’s next for Kareo?

They’ve made it easy for doctors to get paid, now they’re finding ways for physicians to connect with their patients beyond the office. Since data is stored in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere, there are an endless amount of possibilities for physician-patient interaction.

Patients could have an app that connects to their medical records (stored in Kareo’s platform in the cloud) and input what they ate that day, then the app will tell them according to their data that they should watch their sugar intake or eat more iron-rich foods, etc. etc.

If a physician finds a fantastic article on diabetes and has a percentage of patients that are diabetic, he or she can send that article to the diabetic patients through an app.

If a patient is running low on a supplement or medication and does not need to see the doctor, an app could alert that patient, ask if he or she would like to order more, provide the ability to pay right there on the app and then the supplement or medication gets delivered to the patient.

Kareo has the ecosystem to be able to do these things and more. Look to Kareo for more innovative ways for physicians to live with their patients outside the office.

Visit www.kareo.com to watch a free demo and to view their various plans and pricing.

 

5 Questions to Ask A Potential Practice Website Vendor

 

By: Drew McGray
Director, Marketing 

As healthcare continues to be transformed by technology; refreshing or completely re-architecting your practice's website might be on your radar. Unless you have an in-house marketing team, you will probably be outsourcing your website design and production to a third party. How do you know who is going to deliver the most return on your investment? Here are five question to ask any potential vendor. 

1.) Have you done this before? A provider that has experience in producing web properties for small business is probably a good fit. However, you want to be sure you are not their "guinea pig" and that they have experience in crafting websites that mesh well with your practice. 

2.) What tools will be included for my patients?  You want your website to be able to meet several objectives in order to make it relevant to your patient base. These objectives are:

• Communicate information about your services offered and who you are. 
• Secure your practice's contact information, generate driving directions and provide hours of operation. 
• Allow people to contact your front office easily via web form.

Optionally you can give patients the ability to:

• Book appointments online
• Confirm appointments online
• Cancel appointments online
• Order supplements from your website 

There are numerous companies that provide these optional tools that will transform your website from an information-only page to an interactive website. 

3.) I have a change. How do I go about making edits? You don't want to have to call your web designer to make edits to your site and you want the ability to update information instantly. For this reason, its important you select a provider who can implement a Content Management System as opposed to simply building you practice a website. A CMS allows you to edit various parts of your website without having to know any code or programming language.  It's basically as simple as editing a Word document and pushing "publish." In the case of CMS, simple is best. Ask your perspective web designer to demo a few systems for you. 

4.) Can you work with my budget? A lot pricing in the website production industry is arbitrary. I recommend you be upfront with your website budget and have the provider quote products and services in that budget.  Reject any supplementary marketing services they may offer (SEO / SEM) and focus on building a great web property. 

5.) What sort of user engagement can I expect from the site? If your potential provider even flinches at this question, drop them.  A good website developer knows that the focus of any website is on the visitor. They should answer this question with lots of good information related to engagement, conversion and functionality. If they do, they are probably worthy of further consideration. 

Providers to consider: 

• Solution21 
• VitalElement

 

Questions? Want us to help you? Our member-services team will be glad to provide you with a referral or review a proposal. Send to membership@acam.org

 

Tips for Practice Marketing - Grow your patient counts!

Author:
Drew McGray
Director, Marketing - ACAM 

If you're in private practice, you are more than just a physician, you are a business owner. Any good business needs a strong marketing department to generate interest and subsequently, customers (patients). Here are some great tips for marketing your practice. 

A thousand words -. As the physician, you are the face and voice of your business. As such, photos are an important tool in communicating to potential patients. Hire a photographer to capture the vibe of your clinic, including photos of you, your key staff, and your practice. Good photos can make the difference between someone choosing your practice over the next one. 

Become a local expert - There is great demand for information related to health and wellness and the public views information from Physicians as "the gold standard."  Some of our members host seminars at health food stores or offer guest lectures at places like Whole Foods Markets.  Most health food stores have a community events coordinator who will work with you to schedule a lecture or talk, etc. Simply look up your local store online and contact them.  You can give a presentation, host a Q&A session, or discuss new treatment options and then invite guests to visit you for further analysis. Be sure to bring brochures and business cards. 

Get social - Social media has transformed the way businesses (including medical practices) interact with the public.  When a member of ACAM's staff tweeted her frustration with a health insurance provider's lack of acceptance of integrative therapies, they responded directly  to her through Twitter.  Social media allows the public to gain greater insight into who you are and what you're all about.  For more information, read our whitepaper on marketing your practice with Social media. 

Blog it - A blog is different from a Website. A blog is an online journal...of information.  It's updated regulary to keep it fresh.  It's much more simple to blog than it is to make webpages. You can even select a service that will let you Email posts directly to your blog. I recommend every physician in the integrative medicine industry have a blog. Again, patients are craving information that you have, releasing it at a sustained pace, though blogging, can increase your credibility and improve your image as a local expert. Be sure to link your blog to your Website and vice versa to improve your ranking on Google. 

Here are some examples of Physicians with great blogs:

• Dr. Gina Nick, NMD, PhD - http://blog.drgina.com/tag/dr-gina-nick-cushman/
• Joel Lopez, MD, CNS - http://drjlo.com/
• John Gannage, MD - http://www.integrative-medicine.ca/
• Matt Angove, ND, NMD - http://drwholeness.com/
• Shira Miller, MD - http://shiramillermd.com/blog

News You Can Use - Does your practice offer a newsletter? Newsletters are great for keeping your patients connected to their health (and your practice!) You can send out recipes for healthy meals, nutrition advice, a summary of your accomplishments, a staff profile, anything really.  Newsletters allow you to communicate to your patients when they aren't in the office, enhancing loyalty to you and your practice.  You can save money by making your newsletter an eNewsletter. Visit MobileStorm or ConstantContact to learn more. 

The Generation Gap - Technology has and will continue to transform lives on a daily basis. Some segments of the population adopt technology at a different pace than others and it's important to address the communication preferences of all your patients.  For example, many practices now offer TXT messages for appointment confirmations as opposed to a phone call. Services like My Patient Scheduler will automatically TXT your patients, reminding them of appointments, etc. Your new patient intake form should collect communication preferences; e.g., "How do you prefer to be reminded of appointments?" Phone, TXT, Email? 

Everything Communicates - Remember, everything from how your staff answers the phone, your brochures and pamphlets, to the colors of your consultation room, speak to patients.  Invite someone you know to go through the steps of becoming a patient and then have them provide honest feedback to you. Use the feedback to improve your practice and watch your patient counts improve. 

Following these simple tips will improve your exposure as a physician and will foster more meaningful relationships between your practice and your patients.  You'll realize more referrals from existing patients and increase your new patient counts by addressing the service needs of multiple generations, providing ample information through blogging and giving your practice a personality through social media and images. 

 

 

ACAM's Latest White Paper

 

Irvine, Calif -- The American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) is pleased to announce the release of our latest White Paper: Compliance with Anti-kickback Statutes and Other US Healthcare Laws.

With the increase of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services have created the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT). ACAM’s White Paper outlines some of the core laws and issues surrounding the anti-fraud initiatives practitioners should be aware of.

"The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act include some of the toughest anti-fraud language to date and having a basic understanding of U.S. Healthcare Law is now critical for all healthcare providers, including integrative practitioners," said Drew McGray, Director of Marketing and Operations for ACAM.

By becoming familiar with the laws and regulations of the U.S. healthcare system, practitioners may reduce their likelihood of engaging in fraudulent activity, whether it be accidental or due to lack of understanding.

Access the ACAM White Paper here.

About ACAM: The American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) is a not-for-profit Organization dedicated to educating physicians and other health care professionals on the safe and effective application of integrative medicine. ACAM's healthcare model focuses on prevention of illness and a strive for total wellness. ACAM is the voice of integrative medicine: our goals are to improve physician skills, knowledge and diagnostic procedures as they relate to integrative medicine; to support integrative medicine research; and to provide education on current standard of care as well as additional approaches to patient care.