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We sit down with Marita McCahill, founder of a health care growth strategy consulting firm. In this interview, we explore the critical factors that influence patients’ choices when seeking health care providers, and uncover effective strategies for attracting new patients to your practice. Marita shares valuable insights on leveraging patient reviews, cultivating strong patient relationships, and navigating the complex landscape of health care marketing to achieve sustainable practice growth.

Marita McCahill is the founder of practiceGRO, a health care growth strategy consulting firm. She is passionate about developing, implementing, and executing creative programs to help health care practitioners build brand awareness, improve patient relations, and scale their practice.  She can be reached on Facebook and Instagram @practice_gro.

She discusses the KevinMD article, “The top 3 factors influencing how patients choose your health care practice.”

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Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show. Subscribe at KevinMD.com/podcast, and get CME for this episode by clicking on the CME link in the show notes. Today we welcome back Marita McCahill. She’s the founder of PracticeGrow, a health care growth strategy consulting firm. Today’s KevinMD article is “The top 3 factors influencing how patients choose your health care practice.” Marita, welcome back to the show.

Marita McCahill: Thank you, Kevin.

Kevin Pho: Go to KevinMD.com/podcast to search her name and her prior episode, where you can hear her story. But today let’s get into your most recent article, “The top 3 factors influencing how patients choose your health care practice.” For those who didn’t get a chance to read it, tell us what this one’s about.

Marita McCahill: So this article came about when I was working with health care providers in private practice, and also individual practitioners. There are always questions of, how do I grow my practice, how do I attract more patients, and specifically the patients I most want to treat?

And the questions come about, should I do, is my website functioning well, should I do pay-per-click advertising, what about social media? There’s really a plethora of opportunities to market your practice, and some are more traditional, even like billboards or TV commercials. A lot of health care practices run TV ads, and they’re asking, well, what channel do you find to be most effective?

And I said, let’s take it back a step and look at, when a new patient comes to you, why don’t we consider asking them, how did you find me, and why did you select me over someone else in my field?

And when looking at that aspect, you can take away anyone’s perspective. If you ask a website provider, they’re going to say a website drives more patients. Or a social review company, they’ll say you need reviews, and reviews drive your patients. So what I worked with practices to do was really start tracking how you get new patients, and look at the data to let you know how they find you, and then let’s invest in those channels that you already know are working.

And in general what happened, and this is also supported by a RepuGen survey that was done, I believe, in 2021, and the numbers and all the data are in the article I wrote on your website, but the top three channels typically to attract patients are, one, patient reviews. Everyone goes and checks, what are your Google reviews? So that typically is the number one reason how patients find and research a doctor or a provider.

Second is a referral. So it’s worthwhile building your referral base, and that could be with other providers.

And then third is recommendations from family and friends. And those last two, referrals from a provider or referral from a family member or friend, those are really neck and neck on their numbers, they’re both really valid channels.

So as you can see, not many patients are coming in and saying, I heard about you on social media, or there was an ad that popped up when I searched for your name and that’s how I picked you. It’s more about these other channels, and there are ways that providers can really build their practice by focusing on those channels. So that’s where the impetus for this article came about.

Kevin Pho: So knowing this data, that a lot of new patients come from things like referrals or anecdotes from family members and friends, what are some ways practices can capitalize on that, specifically with, let’s say, referrals from providers?

Marita McCahill: I think it’s a channel that providers should really invest some time and energy into, and I talk about this, there’s more information about this on my website, but it’s an actual strategy.

So I really recommend people take at least a day out of their practice a month, if not more, and spend some time doing outreach to other providers. And a lot of times there’s a lot of back work that needs to go into that in scheduling meetings. But really, some face-to-face contact and networking goes a long way in building those relationships.

Because especially if you’re a new provider in town, going out, shaking some hands, meeting people in other offices, and just saying, hey, I’m here, I’m open to new patients, this is what I specialize in, or the type of patients I want to treat, just having those conversations really opens up those communication channels.

And then once you get the channels going, I think it’s really important to invest in those relationships. So you can’t just say, it’s a one and done, hi, I met you. You need to have an ongoing dialogue with those providers, either via text or stopping by on a quarterly basis. You need to invest some time and energy in it. And this is something I teach in my course, specifically step by step what are some things providers should do to build the referral base. So that’s on that end.

And then referral by family and friends. That one again is just, it’s a free channel, and it’s something I don’t think providers really invest enough time and energy in, and it’s really simple. When a new patient comes into your office, ask, how did you find me? And this is actually in the article as well, start tracking that data, either being systematic about it if you can have your MA help you with this, or just on your own, just start hearing what your patients are saying. How did you find me, and why did you choose me? And use that data to drive your marketing strategy.

And then, if it’s someone who said, hey, my neighbor recommended you, ask them what the neighbor’s name was, and then you can always reach out, or when that person comes in say, hey, thank you so much for the referral, it means a lot to me.

And then when a patient’s in your office you can say, hey, I really appreciate and welcome referrals, if you’ve been happy with my service I’d love it if you’d recommend me to your friends and family. It’s a very simple ask. I don’t think many providers do it. I don’t know if they don’t feel comfortable doing that, but it’s very simple. And I think, as a patient on the receiving end, I’m happy to do that for my providers, and I do it a lot.

Kevin Pho: So what I’m hearing is that in order to build a new practice, there has to be a huge focus of course on relationships. The relationships among your colleagues, and the relationships between you and friends and family members that refer other patients to you, much more so than just simply advertising on Facebook or Google, or having some type of billboard. Is that right?

Marita McCahill: Yes, and those are the top three channels of how new patients find you. And that’s why I really recommend providers ask patients, new patients in particular, how did you find me? And odds are they’re going to refer to one of those three channels.

So I usually recommend those are the three channels, with a limited budget, that providers should invest in. Limited budget and limited time. We all know that marketing your practice is not anyone’s full-time job. And so I really work with providers and practices to narrow down and channel into what gives them the most return on their investment.

Kevin Pho: Now, when it comes to interacting and building those relationships with colleagues, the data that you mentioned, was that primarily specialists whose patients really depend on a referral base, or is it primarily primary care doctors who also get referrals from specialists as well? Tell me about that dynamic.

Marita McCahill: Well, honestly the data did not dig down into that level of detail. However, having worked with providers, I think when you make it a two-way street that helps tremendously.

So if you are a specialist trying to grow your practice, obviously a lot of your referrals come from primary care providers, and so you need to build that network. But in turn, those providers, the primary care doctors, also need referrals, and so you can help them by sending patients to them as well.

And this is something I talk about. If you’re a specialist, and a primary care provider sends a new patient to you, take the time to thank them, send them a quick text and say, hey, I just saw your patient, really appreciate the referral, and I’m doing my best to fit him into my schedule as quickly as possible. So that they see the value. Because when someone refers a patient to you, their reputation’s on the line too, right?

So you do not want to send your patient, in either direction, to a specialist or to primary care, to someone who you don’t really believe will take good care of them and fit them into their schedule. And just make sure there’s a sound level of relationship and continuity of care between each of you.

So yeah, I really think it’s a two-way street there. And anytime, as the specialist, you can refer a family member or friend to a provider who is very good to you and sends patients your way, I believe that will help grow your practice as well.

Kevin Pho: So tell me a success story. You’re a health care consultant, I’m sure you’ve worked with a wide variety of practices where you implement and really stress these relationships and move the needle for that practice and really help grow it.

Marita McCahill: Well, one good example I have is, I worked with an orthopedic surgeon and he was new to town, and we came up with a plan to get him in front of primary care providers. At this point he was in private practice, and we started with a baseline trend of who was coming into his practice. We looked at it, and some of them were not out of network but they were hospital based, and typically those providers will refer to the hospital, right? And he was getting some referrals out. So he was like, all right, let’s focus on those people.

And he went in, he scheduled meetings, he wrote them some thank you notes. Annually he would send them, and this was another part of the strategy, get on a program and annually drop off gifts to his top referrals. And so that really was a way to thank them in a very conscientious, thoughtful way. Thank you for all the referrals this year, with a gift basket.

And then I will say he kept getting more and more referrals, and then on the flip side he would send family and friends. I remember there was one provider that was a hospital-based provider but would continually send to him, and then he in turn would send back patients to that provider, and it became a very strong relationship.

And it kind of shows that, although hospital-based people are incentivized or encouraged to refer within network, or within the hospital system to their own specialists, if there is someone that that provider really believes gives exceptional care, they’ll go ahead and make that referral outside the network. And you can grow those relationships as well.

So I would say that was a hugely successful story. And really, I guess the other point there is, if you focus on growing your channel very specifically, and looking at where are the referrals already coming from, and just grow those relationships, you don’t need that many. I mean, if someone has a thriving primary care practice, you probably only need four or five of those people referring to you. So you don’t need a massive base. And in return, you should do your best to send patients back to those loyal referral channels. So that’s where I’ve seen it work.

Kevin Pho: We’re talking to Marita McCahill. She’s the founder of PracticeGrow, a health care growth strategy consulting firm. Today’s KevinMD article is “The top 3 factors influencing how patients choose your health care practice.” Marita, we’ll end, as always, with some of your take-home messages to the KevinMD audience.

Marita McCahill: One thing we didn’t cover in this is that I think one of the easiest ways to cost effectively grow your practice is focusing on your current patient base. So people are always trying to get new patients and marketing to new patients, but really focusing on your existing patients, giving them great care, and then following up with, hey, would you be open to leaving me a review, or, I really appreciate reviews, and making that ask as well.

Or saying, hey, if you have a friend or family member that could use my service, I would love to have the opportunity to treat them as well. Those are two very easy, simple asks that are super cost effective and free, to build your practice. So those are my two takeaways that I’d recommend to the audience.

Kevin Pho: Marita, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and insight, and thanks again for coming back on the show.

Marita McCahill: Thank you.