5 Physician Outreach Program Strategies

Oct 17, 2022 | Physician Liaison Marketing

5 Physician Outreach Program Strategies

A physician outreach manager, also referred to as a physician liaison, serves as the marketing representative for the practice to other physicians. A physician relations manager’s job description is to represent the physician to local referring doctors. A physician relations manager increases patient referrals from local physicians and improves the overall medical practice revenue. This entails outbound marketing on behalf of the medical practice to promote the medical practice services and referring doctor relationships.

A physician liaison is properly trained to manage and drive new referrals with inbound & outbound marketing efforts. The physician outreach director’s training is crucial to the success of the marketing program for the practice. Building successful physician outreach strategies can prove to be challenging for physicians or clinical managers. It’s important to invest in the proper physician liaison marketing requirements and resources, below are some tips to help you develop a high-performing physician outreach strategy.

Defining the Responsibilities of the Physician Outreach Program

Building a physician liaison marketing program involves fully understanding the responsibilities of the physician liaison. Organizing the expected responsibilities will help with communication between staff and the elected physician outreach director. Defining these responsibilities will also assist the employing physician and physician liaison-recruiting manager to better select the most qualified physician liaison candidate. Physician outreach marketing must start with a clear understanding of the role and its required responsibilities. What do the day-to-day responsibilities look like? Who will the liaison be reporting to? These are questions that need to be answered before hiring the physician outreach manager for the medical practice.

Creating a Structured Physician Outreach Program

The physician liaison marketing department will need structure and resources to guarantee consistency and build a foundation for the marketing department. Establishing the physician outreach program by implementing a management and records system will assist in the efforts of maintaining a strong marketing department. The management and records will be kept, monitored, and constantly growing as the physician liaison builds out the marketing and grows relationships.

The physician’s relations systems will be tangible marketing resources to report, direct, and grow the physician liaison marketing department. Physician liaison marketing will be a large part of the healthcare marketing strategy for the practice and will need the necessary systems to maintain it.

Identifying the Perfect Physician Outreach Program Manager

With your marketing department set in place with the expected responsibilities and protocols, you can begin the search for a physician outreach manager. Create dynamic physician liaison interview questions to ensure the candidate not only understands the position but also has the capabilities to drive new physician referrals.

The physician relations interview questions need to address the responsibilities of the marketing position as well as educate the candidate on the purpose of driving doctor referrals. Look for an applicant that has completed the necessary education and has a resume that examples discipline, creativity, and people skills. These qualities are the basic characteristics of a successful physician outreach manager. Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions and stress that the physician liaison requirements involve outbound and inbound marketing efforts.

Establishing Measurable Goals and Benchmarks

How can you measure growth and success without any metrics? Evaluate the current status of patient growth and physician referrals. Understanding the current doctor referral cycle will better help you evaluate the physician outreach marketing program. Establishing the benchmarks and creating targeted goals for the marketing program will help with measuring the program but also with communication.

The physician outreach manager must have a clear understanding of the desired areas needed for growth and how that equates to an increase in revenue for the medical practice. Perhaps, not all goals involve measuring patients some may be getting in front of a large practice or doctor. These benchmarks and goals all are part of the physician liaison training program. The goals should include reasonable timelines and plans once they are met to take the marketing program to the next level.

Training the Physician Outreach Program Manager

You have developed a healthcare marketing program, defined the physician outreach strategies, established marketing benchmarks and goals, and identified a liaison that meets all the practice criteria. The most important action is the proper training of the physician outreach manager. Physician liaison training programs entail outbound and inbound marketing training. Training a liaison will require time and proper management without these the liaison will be limited in their ability to succeed.

The physician liaison training will comprise of:

  • Day to Day physician liaison responsibilities
  • Doctor office visits
  • The proper education and communication between referring doctors and medical staff
  • Referral marketing follow-up protocols
  • Creating healthcare marketing collateral
  • Reporting on physician referral growth and other metrics
  • Designing an effective marketing plan
  • Tracking the doctor’s office visits
  • Understanding the necessary time devoted to the marketing

Physician liaison training is vital to the success of the marketing program. The training will require an experienced manager and the commitment of the physician to ensure it was completed at the highest level.

Reporting and Tracking for the Physician Outreach Program Manager

An organized management system will be required to track and report the success of the physician liaison marketing program. An organized system will maintain consistency and help retain the growth of the referral marketing program. A physician outreach manager will need a system to keep records of physician visits and patient growth. These reports will assist in generating the medical practice analytics and interpreting where the marketing program will focus on moving forward.

The most important thing to remember when tracking and reporting as a physician outreach manager is not to just track where you have been but pulling the revenue growth based on your efforts as a liaison. The reporting will be focused on detailed information on patient growth and ROI, or return on investment. The ROI reports are how the providing physician can evaluate the physician liaison marketing and its contribution to the increase in patients and revenue for the medical practice.

The benefits of tracking and reporting the physician liaison marketing are:

  • Track medical practice visits
  • Organize contacts
  • Evaluate growth and ROI
  • Create a marketing navigation map

Wrapping up Physician Outreach Program Strategies

Need help with physician liaison training? Check out Physician Liaison University™ our end-to-end online training and certification program for physician liaisons.

KELLEY KNOTT

KELLEY KNOTT

Kelley Knott is an expert Physician Liaison Trainer and consultant. Her passion is the help liaisons and practices maximize their effectiveness to improve patient care and revenue new revenue streams for their practice or hospital system. She is one of the first people in the US to develop online courses specifically geared toward physician liaison marketing. She is a published author, entrepreneur, and speaker.

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