Multispecialty group finds it pays to advertise
Multispecialty group finds it pays to advertise
Ads help practice maintain competitive edge
When a Winter Park, FL, radio personality took to the air in ads describing his experience with back surgery at the Jewett Orthopedic Clinic, the clinic switchboard was so overwhelmed with calls that the practice had the radio ad re-recorded to ask callers to contact one of the clinic’s six community locations.
"We can’t track exactly how many patients we got from the ads, but our spine surgeons have gotten feedback from patients that they did hear the ads. We have had several advertising campaigns, and we feel like it was worked well for us," says David Cassidy, internal marketing director at the 24-physician multispecialty orthopedic practice.
Jewett relied on word of mouth for referrals for years, but in today’s health care market, the practice has started to advertise to maintain its competitive edge, Cassidy says.
In the not-too-distant past, the only advertising a physician’s office did was a discreet ad in the newspaper or a card mailed to patients to announce that a new doctor had joined the practice. That’s the way it was at Jewett for most of its 63-year existence — until managed care came into the Winter Park market.
"Because of managed care, hospital consolidations, and some communities having too many physicians in a particular specialty, the health care field is much more competitive today than in the past," says Andrea Eliscu, president and chief executive officer of Medical Marketing Inc., an Orlando, FL-based firm that specializes in marketing, public relations, and strategic planning for physicians.
If growth is part of your strategic business plan, you may want to consider advertising, she suggests. "These days, when a practice has worked very hard to recruit physicians with special credentials, they want to keep them busy and attract the kind of patients who can take advantage of the doctor’s special expertise," Eliscu says.
For instance, last year, Jewett launched a radio and print advertising campaign to increase community awareness of the fact that all six locations now have board-certified doctors specializing in joint replacement.
"When total joint surgery became more acceptable, every orthopedist in the area was doing them. We undertook a campaign to show that our six specialists are truly dedicated to the science of total joint restoration," Cassidy says.
Cassidy says the practice has spent "significant dollars" on its radio, television, and print campaigns. "There are dividends when you have name recognition. When you are in the top of peoples’ minds, it makes the time, energy and investment worthwhile," he adds.
The Jewett Clinic’s advertising programs are targeted to payers and referring physicians as well as patients.
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