Six marketing strategies for Ambulatory Surgery Centers

SIX MARKETING
STRATEGIES & CASE STUDIES
FOR
SURGERY CENTERS
SPONSORED BY HEALTHCARE PIONEERS™ - WWW.HEALHCAREPIONEERS.COM

METHODOLOGY USED
Healthcare Marketing Center performed
detailed market research over 11 years about
patient behaviors how to choose doctors, and
about how doctors refer patients to specialists.
We used reports from 5,000 marketing
campaigns that include data from call centers,
website analytics, and feedback from doctors at
over 350 local events.
WHAT DID WE FIND?
Sponsored by Healthcare Pioneers™ - www.HealhcarePioneers.com

#1 PATIENTS & REFERRING PHYSICIAN BEHAVIORS
Patients and referring physicians were performing
“background” checks about Doctors on Google:
In 2011, 10-15% of website traffic was diverted to
Google (less than 2% diverted to physician-rating
sites like Vitals, Healthgrades, etc)
In 2012 – 80% of website traffic was diverted to
Google & Ratings sites after visiting websites
(60% related to physician ratings)

What does that mean?
That’s a change of 65%
in a specific behavior in
less than 1 year!

Other Big AHA Moments
#2 Once a visitor Googled a doctor with at least
one negative rating he/she was not coming back
#3 Ambulatory Surgery Center websites with a
physician locator (with information about each
doctor) got 90% more new patients than ASC’s that
did not have physician locators.
#4 Surgery Center sites with links to doctors’
private sites outperformed ASCs with simple
physician locators

FURTHER ANALYSIS
#5 ALL ROI from internet depended on doctors’
reputations when advertisements were about specific
services (i.e. Knee Surgery)
 When Ads ran for patient education and not procedures,
the necessity of checking doctor’s ratings dropped by 90-
95% because we were able to establish their EXPERTISE
#6 ALL ROI from radio depended on two factors:
 How educational the outreach was
 How far the patient had to travel
• ROI decreased by 90% for travel time over 10 min

Case Study #1
How one review can spell disaster for getting new
patient volumes
Result: New surgical-patient volume dropped by 15
patients the following month

Solution - Case Study #1
Doctor invested in a Reputation Management Program
Within 7 weeks he was able to gather 55 reviews from his
patients, and was able to settle one major complaint before it
was ever published
He now dominates 2 first pages of Google results for his
specialty, and 10 pages for his name.
Result, in 8 weeks his new surgical-patient volume increased
by 9 patients per month – without spending ANY money on
advertisements.

Case Study#2 –
(Nationally Recognized ASC)
Googl’ing 40% of their doctors shows below average statistics:
This is what the public refers to as “background check”, and it’s not
satisfactory.

Solution for Case Study#2 –
(Nationally recognized Hospital)
20 doctors used Patient Kiosks (ipads) to gather patient feedback
for internal purposes (not published)
Of the 350 reviews, 90 were not-satisfactory
From 90 reviews, 55 were directly aimed at the doctors, even
though they were not directly responsible. Quote: “I waited over 45
minutes for Dr. X”
Based on this patient satisfaction survey: Hospital hired a nurse-
practitioner to assist in patient-flow through the center. This study
cost the hospital only $120 per doctor over 2 months.

Case Study #3 - Patients recognize the “brand” but
Google the doctor they want to see
A big group practice ran Google advertising campaign
for its 50 locations for 30 days specifically
highlighting each doctor’s expertise. 40% of cases are
treated in local Ambulatory Surgery Center.– Each
doctor equally contributed to the cost. Patients were
distributed according to specific geography.
Result: 200% increase in new appointments.
Previously the practice was promoting only the Brand

Case Study #4
Increasing Out-of-Network patient volume
A 2 month advertising campaign for a 3-surgeon
Orthopaedic practice resulted in 40 new patients, 5
of which were out-of-network
They followed up with a 1 month ad campaign
(Radio & Internet) exclusively for the doctors’
reputations – patient reviews. (Average of 30 new
reviews/doctor)
Result: 12 more new out-of-network patients
~$84,000 in surgeon fees (and an “undisclosed”
amount for facility fees) vs. $4,500 ad campaignSponsored by Healthcare Pioneers™ - www.HealhcarePioneers.com

ROI
Total Cost to Client - $4500
Total 2 month ROI=(profit-cost)/cost= 2111%

Reason for 2111% ROI
Patient Education about each
doctor’s expertise
Example: Patient Education provided by Orthopedic
Surgeon specialized in minimally invasive knee
surgery

Understand Patient Demographics
80% of people with $100,000+ income and within
24-45 age group Google their doctors before
scheduling an appointment
They consider social media presence as a “must”
Why?
Because background checks matter to educated
shoppers who pay out of pocket!

It’s about Patient Demographics
What are out-of-pocket expenses?
 Private Insurance Premiums
 Deductibles
 Copays
 HSA accounts (which are now $3250!!!)
 Cash-for-service
 And more!
Patients are willing to spend out of pocket money for:
 Fast access to great doctors
 Satisfaction & great experience

Take Aways:
Positive Reviews are more impactful if they are NOT
anonymous.
Negative Reviews are ALWAYS deemed as “accurate”
whether anonymous or not.
How to get more REAL reviews on public sites?
What are the two places where Positive Reviews are
never anonymous?
Find out by calling 646-648-1355

SUMMARY
1. Cut down advertising costs through Patient Education. Utilize
radio, internet, and local events with referring doctors. Leverage
physicians’ reputations not just brands alone.
2. Never underestimate the power of having satisfied and happy
patients.
3. Don’t spend money on websites, ads, and social media without
taking a close look at ROI on a regular basis.
4. Have Independent Marketing Companies perform an analysis
on a regular basis. In most cases it’s FREE!

Do you need to review your marketing plan?
Meet us at next Healthcare Pioneers™ events:
New York -June 26th
Philadelphia - July 9th
– Healthcare Innovation
Summit (get $600 discount by using code
MDSTARTUP at registration)
Boston - August 15th
Chicago – September 18th
For more information go to
www.HealthcarePioneers.com

Six marketing strategies for Ambulatory Surgery Centers

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