Although managed care has steered patients away from that model by telling them which practitioners they can and cannot see, analysts say tomorrow's seniors will increasingly regain control of their own healthcare dollars, which could put an increased marketing burden on doctors.

As seniors become empowered to make more of their own healthcare choices, doctors will need to find new ways to market themselves. This may take the form of a welcoming Web page; it could mean forming a voluntary association with other like-minded doctors who together can forge a unified message about the nature and quality of their care; or it might mean physicians will take a more proactive role in alerting patients about their qualifications and credentials - something a little less subtle than a diploma hung discreetly over the desk.

Marketing also means hearing a friendly voice on the phone.

"That person is your front line and will be the person to determine how you are perceived by your patients," says Cain. In a competitive environment, human-resource decisions that once were routine can become make-or-break issues. And the physicians themselves will have to change - at least, those who can change.

"Some physicians simply are not in the mode of having a customer-friendly bedside manner, and I don't think you can go back and reeducate them to be that way. I don't think they have a class for that," says Lutz. "Those physicians who are used to a supply-side model in which they call all the shots, those who don't want to accommodate a more consumer-driven action, may very well end up retiring early."

Adam Katz-Stone can be reached via editor@physicianspractice.com.

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2000 issue of Physicians Practice.