Patient Acquisition in the Aftermath of COVID-19

As restrictions are eased, allowing businesses and other venues to reopen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals and health systems are looking at ways to bring people back to their facilities. Because many people still think that it is unsafe to enter healthcare facilities, providers have a huge hurdle to overcome. 

One method for patient acquisition is a digital physician promotion strategy. Spectrum Health, based in St. Joseph, MI, partnered with Healthgrades in 2015 to launch such a strategy. By using Healthgrades' consumer platform, Spectrum has been able to demonstrate an impressive ROI for patient acquisition.

Consumers demand digital access to health information, including information about services, providers, facilities and more. Spectrum’s physician profile platform enables the organization to set their physicians apart from those of other organizations in the minds of their patients. The Healthgrades platform provides consumer reviews and star ratings.

When Spectrum initiated the strategy, they saw almost immediate positive results. Because no EMR or IT integration is required to implement the Healthgrades platform, it can be functional in just a few weeks’ time, thus allowing organizations looking to re-establish patient volumes post-COVID to get a digital physician marketing strategy up and running quickly.

What is your organization doing to increase patient volumes in the wake of the pandemic?

Sara Foster

The original version of this page was published at:  https://www.greystone.net/resources/blog/healthcare/2020/06/18/patient-acquisition-in-the-aftermath-of-covid-19