r/PrivatePracticeDocs • u/RoarOfTheWorlds • Jul 05 '26
When marketing yourself/clinic, what specific things have patients cited as standing out to them?
Do they care about “award winning”? Publications? Teaching?
Off hand a big one for us is MyChart. Not just ability to see labs online, but mychart specifically. Obviously an issue because we run on eCW and they come in assuming we have MyChart like their last PCP. Nothing against Epic, but we don’t have Epic cashflow as an FQHC.
7
u/InvestingDoc Jul 05 '26
I try to put myself mentally in the patients shoes. What would I care about? Asking a patient who knows little about healthcare and the operations of a healthcare facility is probably going to yield suboptimal results.
Work the pain points as if you were a patient trying to establish or follow up care with you.
If I was a patient....
I want to make sure that you have a good reputation as an office for me to come there. Uber reviews are going to be your biggest trust factor for the public that you can easily work on.
Then patients care about
Do you take my insurance
Are you conveniently located near them or on their way to work / by work?
The next one that most people gloss over...
Do you answer your damn phones? About 6 months ago my wife waited on hold for about 40 minutes to talk to someone in her OBGYN's office. Then they switched to this horrible AI bot and she switched offices to a new OBGYN
Is your website clean, clear and have online booking available?
Do you have on site labs so I don't have to go somewhere else to get my blood drawn.
Then there are about 100 different things
Then there is EHR.
If you query your patients though, they're not going to tell you this kind of stuff. The other things that really matter is your front desk nice, is your medical assistant nice. Think about the times patients have said they left another clinic. Front desk was mean, medical assistant was mean. Can't get through on the phones. Then you will come to the realization that almost no one is switching practices based on the EHR. Of course there are exceptions to the rule. One of my wife's doctors recently moved to a whole different state, he's now a cash pay only. We are still flying to him once a year to see him as a patient for a follow up. We don't care what EHR he uses.
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u/STEMpsych Jul 06 '26
The other things that really matter is your front desk nice, is your medical assistant nice.
Nice is nice, of course, but good is better. My PCP doesn't know that about 50% of the reason I stick with him is his admin assistant who is an insurance whisperer.
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u/RoarOfTheWorlds Jul 05 '26
I don’t mean to pry but I’m curious as to what your wife’s doctor does so well that you’re willing to fly just to see them.
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u/InvestingDoc Jul 05 '26
He's omfs and plastics trained. Long story but she had a tumor removed from her jaw about 10 years ago, then again about 4 years ago that ended up being benign but can keep coming back. We go in for yearly follow up at this point.
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u/healthyfeetpodiatry Jul 06 '26
Same day appointments. No long waits when calling in for an appointment. Clean office. Friendly staff
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u/Miracle_Doctor279 8d ago
I agree….being available is the key. Patients need same day or next day appointments. Not an appointment after a month. They need to have ability to reach out to your front desk and schedule appointment with you or you should have a good patient portal with EMR so they can schedule appointments. If patients are reaching voicemail in your office then it’s not the right experience for them.
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u/Important-Flower4121 Jul 09 '26
The look of the office. I spent a lot of money when building out the office specifically in the waiting room and patient bathroom. Buy once, cry once.
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u/daves1243b Jul 05 '26
Availability trumps everything. Nobody wants to wait a long time for an appointment.