Aging, health-conscious males becoming a more attractive market
Aging, health-conscious males becoming a more attractive market
Good health becomes more of a guy thing
For years, conventional wisdom and many studies showed that women make most medical purchasing decisions. They are more likely to go to a doctor, take their children to a doctor, or insist their husbands go. But as the baby boom generation ages, men are taking a greater interest in their own health care, says Neil Baum, MD, a urologist in New Orleans. "Men are more knowledgeable, more interested in health care, have more access to information, and will make more and more health care decisions," he says. The focus for practices will become men born between 1935 and 1950, he adds.
Jerome Morgan, MD, whose urology practice is based in Santa Rosa, CA, agrees that male patients now are more aggressive in seeking information and treatment than they used to be. That is partly due to an increased emphasis on male problems such as erectile dysfunction and prostate cancer. And while Baum and Morgan have urology practices that are traditionally male-oriented, both believe that any practice can — and should — start paying more attention to the needs of their male patients. "Otherwise, they will miss out on this market," Baum says.
Here are some simple ways any practice can become more "man-friendly":
- Let them know you speak their language. "You have to let them know you speak man,’" Baum says. "You should make that clear from what plays on your hold message, to the magazines you have in your reception area." If all you have are Good Housekeeping and Elle, men won’t feel comfortable, he says. Offer sports, hunting, mechanics, and financial publications. Keep the daily paper and perhaps the Wall Street Journal on hand. And if your practice caters to both women and men, consider keeping the male-oriented magazines on a separate rack.
- Learn to speak with men. Men don’t communicate in the same way or as readily as women, says Morgan. For instance, a man is usually very reticent to say anything is wrong with his sex life. "Men don’t volunteer information," he says. "You have to ask much more specific questions: Are you having sex? How often? Why not more often?’ You have to tease information out of them."
- Don’t make them wait. The tolerance for waiting among males is about half that among women, Baum says. "I think it’s because women are more used to waiting for their gynecologists," he says. "Men have a very short fuse about this, and you have to see them in a timely fashion." The risks of not doing so became apparent to Baum when he heard about a colleague in New Orleans who was running about an hour behind. A man with a 2 p.m. appointment hadn’t even been told why he was waiting or how long it would be. He took out his cell phone, borrowed a Yellow Pages and started calling local doctors to find one who could see him immediately. When he found one, he went to the front desk, demanded his chart immediately, signed the release, and walked out of the practice. Three other individuals immediately followed his lead. "If each patient was worth $20,000 per year, then $80,000 in revenue walked out the door for not letting that man know why he was waiting."
- Make your education appropriate. Men learn differently than women, says Baum. That means that your educational material may have to be different for men than for women. "Men need more pictures and visual aids," he says. "When I talk to a man about his prostate, I blow up a balloon and put a clothes pin on it and tell him this is why he can’t urinate. He can understand that picture. With vasectomies, I use a rubber band as a visual aid. Just think through what you need to tell the man and find some visual way to illustrate it."
- Pay attention to male problems. It’s relatively easy to find information on breast cancer and self-exams, but how much information is available to men on testicular cancer? Baum has created a laminated shower card that has information on breast self-exams and warning signs of breast cancer on one side, and information on testicular cancer and guidelines for testicular self-exams on the other. His practice’s name is on both sides of the cards, which cost about 40 cents each to have printed. Not only is it a value-added service, but he catches at least one testicular tumor per year because of the cards.
- Go to where the men are. If men in your market favor a particular golf course or health club, approach that organization and ask to write articles on men’s health for its newsletter. Morgan also suggests giving seminars or health talks at such venues.
- Pay attention. Just as female patients do, men "like to feel special," he says. To accomplish that, he makes sure his office calls patients the night before any procedure and the evening after it happens. "They like that extra touch."
- Be efficient. Because men have a low tolerance for waiting, Baum calls in prescriptions for patients to the pharmacy of their choice. He makes sure to tell patients to let him know if there is any delay when they get there. "If there is, I tell them we’ll find another pharmacy to work with." Invariably, the pharmacy has the prescription waiting for the patient.
- Cultivate a community interest in male health. Morgan says developing a relationship with area press also may help your practice become known as being male-friendly. Not only can you get reporters to do more stories on male health issues, but when they do a story, you can be the one who is quoted.
Making your practice — whether primary care or specialty — more appealing to male patients will pay off, says Baum. "This works. From the moment they walk in the door, they know that this is a man-friendly practice, from what is on the wall to the people they communicate with and the magazines and books they can read here."
"Men come in more now than they used to, and they come in with more questions and more and more informed questions," Morgan says. "We have to be able to meet their needs."
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