Michael Woo-Ming, MD

Like clockwork, I make it a point to keep up with my state's medical board periodic newsletters.  Keeping up with the latest medical guidelines is a job within itself. And of course, nearly half of it is devoted to "administrative actions," a long list of disciplinary rulings against problematic physicians. A warning list for most, charges range from improper storage of medical records to gross negligence, for all the world to see.

With these newsletter issues, other than the occasional acknowledgement of a doctor (who in most cases is connected with the medical board in some fashion), it is difficult to find much positivity about my profession. I know it is their job to regulate physicians, not complement them, but it often takes for granted that most doctors want to do the right thing, within the rules and parameters of the occupation.

Looking for positive words about doctors in the media, was even bleaker. Performing a Google News search for the keyword "physician" brought back the following headlines:

-owned hospital in Dallas pays $7.5M to settle kickbacks"

accused of writing illegal prescriptions…"

 for Talking on the Phone During Operation" (!)

Of course, every now and again, the media does portray doctors in a positive light. Surgical teams working day and night during the horrific Las Vegas shooting. Physicians saving people's lives through hurricanes and electrical generators, while fearing their own homes are washed away. Doctors from other states not batting an eye to travel in order to help those in need. That’s just what doctors do. But at times, it appears only doctors performing extraordinary feats ever get acknowledged.

What about the doctor who quietly goes to work every day without fuss or fury?

Seeing as we are deep into the holiday season, I want to take an opportunity to praise and commend the everyday doctor, who often gets taken for granted, is overlooked, and generally unrecognized.

To the doctor who stayed open late, despite waiting for that one patient who no-showed on you the three previous times, I salute you.

To the physician who fills out those disability papers that the patient dropped off this morning but needs it "NOW" because it expires tomorrow, my utmost respect.

To the hospitalist who took the phone call from the patient's out-of-state sister-in-law because "she's in the medical field," a hundred salutations your way, my friend.

To the medical professional who has faith the EMR update will actually save this time and won't crash again like it did for the umpteenth time, kudos to you.

To the struggling practice owner who despite assurances that the insurance checks are "coming soon," sacrifices their own salary to keep the clinic open for the good of the patients and the employees, your struggle is recognized and appreciated.

To all my everyday physician colleagues, keep fighting the good fight, don't give up hope, and continue persevering. Your service is valued and applauded. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

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A physician offers words of praise to his peers that spent 2017 working long hours caring for those in need.

A Christmas Toast to Physicians

Next month, our cash-based clinic and medical spa will be celebrating our five-year anniversary. Recently I had a chance to go over profit-loss statements for the last year, and when pinpointing our most profitable month, it started on the night when we hosted our first open house at our practice. I am sure all of you have heard the benefits of an open house and some may think that it takes lots of work to be successful. That is certainly true! However, despite last minute changes, unreliable vendors, and a late start, our open house was a smashing success. Along the way our staff learned a few lessons that will help you have a successful open house for your practice.

When deciding on a date, you want to make sure all your employees that need to be there are available. No vacations, no dentist appointments, everything should be cleared in anticipation of the date. The date can often sneak up on you quicker than you might think. It's important to identify a date, and even have an alternative date, in anticipation of weather or other unplanned issues. Open houses generally last two to three hours in length, we recommend starting around 5:00pm on a weeknight for maximum attendance.

You want to have a good idea of who you want to invite; your patients, vendors, perhaps even other local businesses. If you are mailing invitations, do so at least six to eight weeks in advance. Be sure all your email and regular mailing lists are up to date.

You should have an idea on the purpose of your open house in the first place. Is it just strictly for revenue? Is it about building awareness in your local community? Is it launching a grand opening or celebrating a milestone? Is it unveiling a new product or service or is it to connect with local business? You should identify one or possibly two themes for your open house. Too many objectives can leave your open house scattered and unfocused. Hold a brainstorm meeting with your key staff early on so that everyone is on the same page.

On the day of our open house, we not only wanted to focus on our five year anniversary, but also as an appreciation for all our loyal patients. Each attendee got their own goodie bag that included promotional mugs with our logo, apparel, and inexpensive gadgets to help improve their health. We had giveaways and raffles that include prizes like FitBit watches and gift certificates for future appointments. Everyone appreciates high-quality food, so this is one area that you do not want to go cheap.

In our business complex, our neighboring businesses include chiropractors, tax service businesses, and salons, as well as other medical practices. Not only is it courteous to let them know you are having an open house, it may make sense for you to include them in the festivities. Some successful open houses have non-competing adjoining businesses be allowed to set up their own booth, in exchange for helping with costs. We were surprised when our vendors offered to pay for a significant portion of our open house. Again, as long as it fits within your theme and what you want to do, there will be others who will be willing participants.

For our open house one of the most successful things that we did was alert our local Chamber of Commerce of whom we are members. Our Chamber sent out email blasts and reminders about our event. If you want to form new relations with other businesses, an open house is a great icebreaker. We use all forms of marketing at our disposal, including email and text marketing to our current patients, timely reminders on Facebook, and social media leading up to the event.

One of our goals was to draw in new patients to our practice, while providing an entertaining evening. Our open house not only included educational seminars and procedure demonstrations but we had raffles and giveaways of valuable prizes and gift certificates. If patients brought in new friends or family members, they would be issued more raffle tickets. Depending on your budget you may want to have local musicians, DJs and other and other entertainers, as long as it matches the theme and purpose of the event.

A successful open house can help a relatively new practice draw attention and community awareness, while providing excitement to a more established practice. If you have had a successful open house in your practice, feel free to add your tips or comments to this article.

If executed properly, an open house can draw new patients into your practice while spreading your reputation throughout the community.

Six Steps to a Successful Practice Open House

Recently, I had to make a monumental change for our family. Due to an issue with our dental insurance, we made the difficult decision to drop our family dentist of over fifteen years. Although, our dentist had been like a family friend through the decades, it did not make much financial sense for us to keep him, it was time to start finding a new one. Being admittedly overtly compulsive (and a bit anal-retentive), there was certain criteria that I wanted to make sure were filled in my quest for the ideal dentist replacement.

Let's face it, dentists are much better marketers than most doctors. It would be an interesting experiment to see what marketing features would attract me to choose my next health provider, and see how my own practice marketing compared.

After entering some basic demographic information, my dental insurance website churned out a list of 200 dentists from which to choose. Where would I start? Limiting my search to a ten mile radius, only cut that number by half.

I chose to look at other variables. Practice profiles that were incomplete, with no procedures listed or lack of a website, were immediately crossed off the list. Why bother moving forward if they do not even take the time to complete their listing? Pictures of dentists that appeared unprofessional or were missing, or websites that had not been updated in several years, also got the boot. I admit that my initial selection process was a bit superficial, but isn't this the same method when patients search for us?

Convenience and availability were my next determining factors. Do they offer night or weekend hour coverage? Do they make downloadable registration forms available online?  One feature I really love is the ability to make online appointments. Not being a fan of being tied up on the phone, it is much more convenient to be able to make an appointment with just a click of a button. Since there was only a minority of dental practices who offer these features, in allowed me to cut my search down significantly.

Finally, I cross-matched my shrinking list to online patient reviews. I looked at all the major review sites, such as Yelp, Google pages, social media sites, and some dental specific review sites.

Practices that only had all five star reviews with no negative comments listed seemed unrealistic or event artificial. Too many reviews actually made me consider that their practice could be too busy. I then focused on reviewing customer experiences. Was there a lot of staff turnover?  Did they tend to upsell procedures too aggressively? Was the practice environment clean and inviting? How did they handle anxious patients? Did the dentist keep up to date with the latest technology or just like to talk politics? Taking all these experiences into consideration allowed me to come closer to my final decision.

In the end, I never found the perfect dentist, but I did finally find one who fit the majority of my criteria. In addition to stellar but honest patient reviews, her practice website displayed a number of pleasing photos of her immaculate dental office. When I actually went for my first appointment, (which I had scheduled online, of course) I already knew what to expect as she had a detailed description of a patient's first visit. My search allowed me to play the role of prospective patient and after it was all said and done, I definitely learned a few marketing lessons that I could incorporate in my own practice when attracting new patients. So far, my experience has confirmed my selection process was on the right track.  

A physician uses his search for a new dentist as an opportunity to evaluate his own practice's marketing. 

Evaluating A Practice's Marketing 

If you're looking to create videos for your clinic or practice, bear in mind it does not need to cost you an arm and a leg. People will watch your videos for the informative content, not your moviemaking ability. Creating inexpensive videos is my method of choice when it comes to standing out among the competition.

Video marketing can be an inexpensive and powerful platform to showcase your business. With easy to use apps like Facebook Live, anyone can start streaming videos using their cell phone. Forward thinking clinics that create consistent videos on a regular basis, will not only gain more viewers, but patients. Here are five of my favorite tips to help you effectively use video for your medical practice:

An effective video is one that not only educates, but explains. When I started my practice, I created a series of videos on frequently asked questions about my practice. Some of the questions I answered were on how I started start my own clinic, what made me interested in my medical specialty, as well as sharing patient success stories. Answering these questions helped build a level of transparency that helped bridge a comfort level with new patients.

•Keep Your Videos Short and to the Point:

 I like to keep videos no longer than 10 minutes. Make sure the video title matches exactly what the content of the video is going to cover. You can break up a long video into shorter and more succinct videos. Again, I love the format of asking common questions about your practice, and you can expand that to answering questions about procedures or medical conditions. 

 One of the most effective ways that you can use video is giving prospective patients the experience of what it's like to become a patient. It can be nerve-wracking to be a new patient, a video can put them at ease by showing them the layout of your waiting room or exam room. Provide interviews of key staff members. Walkthroughs of an actual procedure have been known to get a ton of views in my experience.

•Take Advantage of Local Talent and Tools:

 There are big video marketing firms that can charge upwards of $10,000 to create a video. But did you know that it is easy to find local talent that can be had for pennies on the dollar? One particular resource I have used are wedding videographers. Most videographers aren't recording weddings seven days a week. On their off days, most will be more than happy to create an appealing video for you to showcase your business at an affordable rate.

If you are interested in creating a video yourself, there are an abundance of video editing software available. An easy way to create video quickly is by answering a commonly asked question using a few Powerpoint slides, and recording them using screen capture software. If you have a PC, I recommend 

. If you own a Mac, the built-in QuickTime Player can create excellent screen capture videos. Personally, I use 

 on my Mac because it has great editing software and is pretty easy to use. A great online resource is 

, which can take still pictures and create dazzling videos on the fly.

 show you need to grab your audience’s attention in the first 10 seconds of the video. If done right, videos can be used as a powerful tool to attract new patients. Videos that teach something new, educate, or explain a concept can often get shared and bookmarked online. If you can get in the habit of creating compelling video, you can take advantage of a powerful an inexpensive marketing strategy for your business.   

Video marketing can be an effective way to attract new patients and boost your online presence, here are some tips to be successful. 

Author | Michael Woo-Ming, MD

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