Travis oversees all aspects of strategy, sales, and business development at PatientPop. Before co-founding the company, Travis co-founded and served as the CEO of ShopNation. He also co-founded and served as the CEO of StarBrand Media. Travis holds an Honors degree in Business and Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University. He is also a two-time recipient of the KPMG Enterprise Entrepreneur Award.

"The front door of the practice has moved online and PatientPop is the leader in helping practices transition."

Travis Schneider

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, providers must be even more creative and resourceful when helping their patients. Telehealth represents a prime opportunity for physicians to do just this. Through telehealth, doctors can treat patients through synchronous audio-video telecommunications systems carried out from separate locations.

Telehealth usage has risen sharply during the pandemic and is unlikely to go away after it ends. Our 2021 Patient Perspective Survey found that roughly half of all patients participated in telehealth during 2020, increasing satisfaction levels as more people experience a virtual visit. Therefore, your practice should consider incorporating telehealth into your patient care plans if you haven’t already. Here is how to best implement telehealth to satisfy patient needs and further grow your practice.

Determine how to incorporate telehealth into your practice

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which governs Medicare policies and influences commercial plan protocols, has overhauled many pre-pandemic restrictions to make telehealth more attractive to patients and providers. Under revised CMS guidelines, practitioners can now bill for telehealth and be reimbursed as they would for an in-person visit. Eligible visit types include initial patient visits, ongoing healthcare management, and therapeutic procedures, including therapeutic exercise, neuromuscular reeducation, gait training, and ADL instruction.

Just because the CMS proposes new codes does not mean that Medicare is necessarily bound to all of them when reviewing and paying out claims in day-to-day practice.Supplemental or secondary insurance typically kicks in to cover what Medicare does not.However, CMS guidance often serves as an influential springboard for commercial healthcare insurance carriers to build off the CMS’s suggestions and cover more robust treatment options in their policies. Your practice's strategies for leveraging telehealth will depend on your specialty, patients, and your patient's insurance carrier policies. Collecting patient feedback — in person and via patient surveys — can help guide your practice toward the best ways to implement telehealth technology at your practice.

Physicians have to be careful when billing for telehealth services, as not all codes addressing electronically administered care can be sufficiently specific to the format of visits that take place via technology. . Codes 99441-99443, for example, cover telephone calls only.

Conducting telehealth visits with your patients is similar to holding live patient-provider meetings, albeit through encrypted, synchronous video-audio connections. Therefore, doctors can bill out telehealth as E&M or therapy treatment.

While you should always consult the updated CMS guides and commercial carrier telehealth policies for detailed information, you can consider the following options when billing for telehealth services:

If you are billing out an E&M visit, use codes 99202-99205 for new patients and 99212-99215 for established patients, along with POS 2 and modifier 95

.
The E&M code you use will depend on the duration of the treatment, the severity of the injury, and the complexity of the medical decision-making involved. Regardless, you will need to use place of service (POS) code 2 to indicate you are using telehealth, along with modifier 95 to show you conducted the treatment in real-time using a synchronous audio-video system. While using modifier 95 is optional when billing E&M visits, you should include it nonetheless due to varying carrier billing requirements.

If you are billing for telehealth-based therapy treatment, use the telehealth billing code appropriate for that therapy along with POS 11 and modifier 95

.
When billing for therapy treatment, your place of service code will need to reflect where the patient’s therapy would usually take place if held in person. Therefore, you will likely use POS 11 as it encompasses in-office treatments. Although modifier 95 is optional with E&M, carriers require this modifier with therapy entries.

If a carrier you bill does not acknowledge modifier 95, use modifier GT instead

. While uncommon, some commercial insurers may reject claims using modifier 95. If this is the case, use modifier GT instead to indicate you used interactive audio and video telecommunications to administer care.

Not all video- or audio-based treatments qualify for telehealth reimbursement. For example, insurers will not reimburse pre-taped videos and training programs since they do not involve interactive, synchronous two-way video and audio communication. Additionally, telehealth visits are subject to identical information and time recordkeeping requirements, utilization management policies, payment audit programs, and medical necessity requirements for face-to-face treatment.

How to optimize your practice for telehealth

While the HHS Office of Civil Rights’ (OCR) temporary telehealth guidelines are relatively open regarding the types of video-audio communication tools doctors can use, this will likely not be the case for post-pandemic requirements. To ensure utmost HIPAA compliance and security, physicians should work with HIPAA-compliant telehealth providers that can enter into HIPAA business associate agreements (BAAs). They should also carefully consider the technical capabilities of the video-audio platforms they choose. At a minimum, your telehealth platform should support the following:

HD two-way video communication for optimal picture quality and clear diagnosis of symptoms

Patient digital registration capabilities that allow for seamless and secure intake processes

Integrations with your existing practice management software for secure payments, document uploads, patient scheduling, and appointment reminders

From there, your practice must market and integrate your telehealth technology into your day-to-day services. Dedicated informational website pages, FAQ sections, blog posts, and email blasts can all help promote and define your telehealth services to patients and potential referral sources. Finally, as you determine the best ways to integrate the technology into your care plans, be sure to consult with other doctors and staff at your practice.

Travis Schneider, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of PatientPop, the industry’s most complete all-in-one practice growth platform is known for his revenue growth strategies and visionary leadership.

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While most insurance plans now accommodate telehealth, you should still know how to bill it properly to avoid unpaid claims. 

How doctors can leverage telehealth to help their patients and their practices

It is essential to know your key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify areas for growth and determine where to make adjustments. KPIs are “any metric of measurement that illustrates the status or progress of a particular operation or effort.” These are important numbers to keep an eye on.

KPIs can reflect financial growth, patient acquisition and retention numbers for today’s private healthcare practices, and marketing gains for particular channels (such as the practice website) or campaigns. While other practices will identify success using some of the same metrics, it’s essential to choose the KPIs that matter most to your unique business and align with your specific goals. Regardless of which KPIs a practice selects, having 

 to track all of those relevant KPIs is a tremendous advantage.

Below are three prime KPIs that can help spell success for your practice.

Relying exclusively on new patient growth is short-sighted. Managing a well-run practice is also essential for good business; while operating an efficient practice can go far in reducing costs, practitioners should also measure that efficiency.

Evaluating the four operational KPIs below and 

 at your office can improve performance by saving staff time, reducing no-shows, and making it easy for patients to book or reschedule appointments. Consider the following measurements to help ensure your practice is a well-oiled, efficient machine:

Staffing metrics (patient-to-staff ratio and provider-to-staff ratio)

No-show rate/Number of missed appointments

Percentage of patients who don’t book follow-up appointments

Patient acquisition and retention metrics

In addition to maintaining your established patient base, the surest way to operate a thriving practice is by attracting new patients and making sure they keep coming back. With an eye on patient volume, lead conversion, new patients, and overall patient satisfaction, you can get a clear line of sight to how you're performing (and meeting growth goals) if you consider the following:

Total number of patients (year-over-year)

New patient appointments (by the total number, per location, or per-provider-per-month)

Number of return patient appointments per month

Percentage of website visitors who convert into a new patient appointment

Marketing metrics will help grow a practice

Most medical marketing strategies are designed to drive new patient volume. However, as detailed above, a keen eye on overall practice success also supports patient retention. Both require tracking the effectiveness and return on investment for your various marketing strategies. These five KPIs focus on marketing initiatives and help set the stage for growth:

Social media metrics (including the number of followers and number and type of engagements for each social media channel)

Website performance (page views, demographics, conversion rates)

Website traffic (including the number of new and returning visitors)

Patient review volume, frequency, and average star rating

How a practice growth platform can help improve KPIs

Consistent patient growth is a neon sign of a thriving healthcare practice, but the question remains: How do you get there? Once you decide which KPIs to track, you can create a 

 to record and monitor how you are tracking against your goals.

An easier and more insightful option is accessing a practice growth dashboard, an integral aspect of a practice growth platform. All critical metric information is collected and monitored in one easy-to-use platform—incoming patient leads, new patient conversion rates, website performance, search engine optimization (SEO), or online reputation insights. With this convenient access, healthcare practices can make smarter operational and marketing decisions. Remember, you're in the business of healing and healthcare—but you are running a business.

Properly employing key performance indicators can give your practice an edge over the competition.

Guide your practice to success using key performance indicators 

In today’s digital age, your medical practice no longer has the luxury of relying on word-of-mouth advertising to drive new business. Instead of trusted family, friends, or neighbors, Google has taken over as the chief authority on many aspects of life — including where to find the best local medical and dental practices.

Beyond optimizing your Google My Business profile to stand out across the variety of ways Google displays your practice information in searches, understanding the patient search journey is critical to get found and grow your practice.

 turn to the web to find a healthcare provider, and the “patient journey” has become a buzzword among healthcare executives and medical marketers. The patient 

 journey specifically refers to when, where, and how patients search for healthcare information online, and which factors drive their choices. Knowing the sequence of patient actions and preferences along the patient search journey can help guide you to attract more patients.

The patient online search journey most often begins with a question: Where is the nearest urgent care center? What is this rash on my hand? Who is the best OB/GYN downtown? Which local dentists offer cosmetic teeth whitening? Your practice must have a thorough understanding of what patients search for that is pertinent to your specialty, and what questions patients ask most often.

The most common searches include medical conditions, symptoms, procedures, and surgeries. When you have the answers to these questions on your practice website, the likelihood of a patient landing on your website increases during their initial search.

Not all prospective patients actively look for a healthcare provider initially, but you can have the answers to commonly asked questions available on your website, related to your procedures and treatments, or particular symptoms or health conditions. Some search examples may include: How to treat X?; What is Y procedure?; How long is recovery for Z?.

Even when prospective patients don’t search for a doctor in their queries, their search for information can still bring them to your website. Cater to the patient search journey and optimize your site by populating it with comprehensive information about the conditions you treat and the services you provide. Ideally, create at least one page for each service you offer.

When a patient finds your practice, they look closely at your online reputation and reviews from other patients. Healthcare practices with more online reviews, and with higher quality reviews, typically achieve better organic search result rankings. To improve the quantity and quality of your online reviews, consider sending automated patient satisfaction surveys to patients who’ve had a recent appointment. According to PatientPop research, patients who are asked for feedback are 2.3 times 

 to proactively submit an online review via popular review sites such as Google, Yelp, and Healthgrades.This tactic can help influence prospective patients to choose your practice.

When a patient visits your website, make a great first impression by highlighting your exceptional care and services, and the reputation of your providers. On each page, establish online authority for each service and align your website with the keywords that patients use during a search for information.

After you establish a favorable impression, offer an easy-to-navigate experience. When answering frequently asked questions from patients on your website, use the words and phrases they use — even if they’re not clinically correct. Patients are more likely to take action if your site offers an easy-to-navigate experience that includes online scheduling and click-to-call for mobile users.

To further capitalize on a provider-specific search, maintain a blog on your practice website to share timely insights and guidance. Also, keep patients engaged through regular social media posts, and claim and update your profiles on each healthcare directory website where your practice appears.

Once a prospective patient has done their initial research, they will evaluate options and then make a final decision on their choice of practice and provider. Evaluation steps might include a check to see which providers are covered by their insurance plan and in-network. When prospective patients land on your site through an insurance plan directory, engage them and prevent them from going elsewhere by offering doctor bios (consider video), patient testimonials and reviews, and a comprehensive overview of your services.

To bring the prospective patient to your practice, your call to action (CTA) for appointment scheduling should be readily available and easy to find and navigate. In 2019 research from Accenture, 68 percent of patients said they are more likely to choose providers who offer the ability to book, change, or cancel appointments online. Make appointment scheduling simple and the follow-up accommodating.

Once booked, offer your newly acquired patients digital tools including automated appointment reminders, text messaging with your practice, and telehealth options when appropriate. . Responding to the digital preferences of your patients will prevent appointment no-shows and demonstrate your commitment to patient convenience.

Now that you know the sequence of patient actions and preferences, your well-planned tactics will help patients make the best decisions for their healthcare and put your practice at the forefront of their options.

Patients are relying more and more on technology when choosing a physician.

4 Critical steps patients take when looking for a doctor 

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, government-mandated shutdowns and anxiety over virus variants have disrupted how medical practices operate day-to-day. For example, in a March 2021 PatientPop survey, 55% of patients reported missing or canceling their healthcare appointments due to the pandemic. While federal agencies and state governments have a better grasp of the pandemic than in 2020, the nation is still navigating healthcare delivery amid new and ever-changing conditions. So naturally, doctors must adapt to accommodate this “new normal.”

While the pandemic may influence how patients follow through with care plans, doctors are exploring different strategies to treat patients outside their physical offices. Patients are gravitating toward providers who embrace flexible online care and interactions. McKinsey, for example, found that 

40-60% of consumers would consider “digital front door”

 solutions and other broad virtual health offerings.

Despite the pandemic’s challenges, physicians can use the Internet to their advantage in satisfying patients and growing their practices. Here are ways doctors can leverage virtual practice-building tools to manage their businesses and help their patients.

Building a successful practice online requires adopting a data-driven mindset. 

 found that organizations in the top third of their industries using data-driven decision-making were 5% more productive and 6% more profitable on average than their competitors.

Physicians can use the data they collect from website analytics programs, patient review platforms, and patient intake software to determine opportunities and adjustments that best position them for practice growth. For example, a dedicated practice growth dashboard can help practices track the appointment scheduling process—visits booked via phone, online, text message—to identify which strategies are working and which should change. Doctors and practice owners can also use a dashboard to gather actionable insights for improving reviews, website traffic, and SEO performance.

Doctors can also implement access to online healthcare and registration, giving patients the convenience to book appointments and access clinical information digitally. Not only can this satisfy your current patient base, but making these capabilities available can be an excellent strategy for attracting new patients. As 

, patients today prefer digital access to see their healthcare records, track their healthcare progress, verify information accuracy, and review treatment recommendations. Patients can also use digital access to seamlessly and securely check-in online, upload insurance and intake documents, share medical information, and confirm other appointment-related matters.

Leverage Patient Insights and Accommodate Your Patients’ Needs

Do not forget about your offline patient experience as you make improvements online. Knowing your patients offers a trove of insights for fueling your growth initiatives. As you treat your patients, pay attention to common trends and questions that pop up during your appointments.

Are most patients presenting common problems? What questions are they asking most often? Are they struggling to find providers for issues related to their symptoms? These insights can inform how you update your website pages, emphasize services offerings, and craft patient feedback surveys.

The pandemic has also encouraged patients, in large numbers, to take part in telehealth when appropriate. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced nearly 

 occurred during the pandemic. Offering telehealth as a treatment option can help your practice accommodate high-risk individuals, conduct visits to determine whether an in-person appointment is needed, and manage ongoing treatment, especially for chronic care patients.

Although updated CMS guidance has made telehealth more viable for doctors and more accessible for patients, be sure to review applicable policies before deciding how to incorporate telehealth treatments into your patient care plans.

Of course, you will need to market your services the right way to maximize your telehealth and complementary treatment options. Using reputable email marketing programs can segment patient emails and deliver targeted messaging that resonates with patients and their care goals.

Virtual practice building can save a facility battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

How doctors can overcome pandemic pressures through virtual practice building

A high-performing healthcare practice requires a loyal, reliable patient base to carry it through even the toughest of times. However, the pandemic has unleashed its own set of unique challenges. Patients are now more selective with where they seek care and have greater expectations from the providers they visit. Practices that fail to meet patients’ needs could face increased attrition in today’s competitive healthcare environment. PatientPop's 

 found that 36% of patients left a healthcare provider in the previous two years.

Fortunately, a practice has the ability to manage and control many of the factors that trigger patient attrition. With the right tools and training, physicians can ensure positive experiences, improve retention, and fully realize the lifetime value of new and prospective patients.

Based on our survey, here are the primary reasons patients have left or switched doctors, and ways practices can address them.

Reason #1: Poor experience with a healthcare provider and staff

Impressions count when combating patient attrition, especially in your office. Our survey found that 8 out of 10 patients who decided to leave a healthcare practice said their decision was due to a negative in-person experience or lack of communication. Patients specifically singled out doctor-patient relationships and customer service issues.

Although patients were about a third less likely in 2021 than in 2020 to post a negative review about a provider’s demeanor, poor bedside manner remained the second-most listed reason behind negative online reviews. Patients also reported a 29% increase in staff-related issues, which ranked as the third-most-noted reason for submitting a negative patient review.

Physicians must be responsive to patient feedback when addressing these qualms. Tactically, doctors need to take the lead in directly responding tonegative online reviews or feedback via direct emails.

Of the patients surveyed who submitted complaints, one in three reported that their doctors responded instead of a practice staffer, representing a 61% increase over our 2020 survey results. While administrative staff may need to shepherd patient response protocols depending on the circumstances, doctors can help put forward a more tailored and personalized experience by maintaining some involvement.

With your staff on the front lines, you also need to implement strategies to manage staff stress and burnout. These have always been recurring issues in healthcare, but the pandemic has worsened them substantially. By implementing automated processes and programs that reduce staff workloads and intake bottlenecks, your practice can tighten up the patient intake process and allow staff to focus on other higher-value work. You should also consider training initiatives that help providers and staff improve their listening and patient relations skills. After all, 67.1% of patients prefer doctors who are good listeners; 49.7% are more partial to practices with welcoming staff.

Reason #2: Slow or No Response to Questions or Concerns

Growing staff burnout may also affect how healthcare employees respond to patient questions and appointment issues.These issues often arise when front-desk staff is overwhelmed with administrative tasks and physicians are preoccupied with administering care and securing proper documentation. If a practice lacks a uniform response procedure for patient inquiries, patient questions could fall through the cracks.

This issue can chip away at patient loyalty since 47% of patients consider the speed at which practices respond to questions as a component of a good (or poor) patient experience.

Practices can address this issue by implementing channels that enable staff and doctors to respond quickly to patient inquiries. Try incorporating a simple, automated text message exchange program that synchronizes with your practice system — in our research, 66% of patients said they prefer text reminders of upcoming medical appointments. Online scheduling tools can also allow your patients to book or request an appointment online, which 64% of patients prefer. These offerings can also help your practice capitalize on the 

 who reserve appointment times after business hours.

You should also inform patients about their upcoming appointments and office policies ahead of time to mitigate the likelihood of last-minute cancellations and no-shows. No-shows and cancellations can be costly’, both in the short- and long-term: patients who miss one appointment are 

70% more likely not to return within 18 months

. Secure two-way text messaging systems are an efficient way to remind patients of upcoming appointment times and let them know what to expect upon arrival.

Reason #3: Long Wait Times for Appointments

Finally, we found patient satisfaction to be strongly defined by practice wait times. Our research specifically found that 60% of patients will feel frustrated, even before their exam, if their appointment wait times exceed 20 minutes. Practices that tackle this issue successfully can distinguish themselves from their competitors.

To help solve the problem, you can use many of the same tools that already automate and expedite the check-in process. Try leveraging a HIPAA-compliant text messaging program, for example, to allow patients to check in virtually on their way to the office and receive notifications to approach the front desk once their providers are ready to see them. (This has become commonplace over the past 18 months in response to COVID, with patients waiting in their cars or outside.)

Automated emails and online forms also give patients the opportunity to complete initial registration and intake paperwork online ahead of their visit, on their time. Instead of asking patients to fill out paperwork in the waiting room, your staff can send links to these forms via email or text message.With 60% of patients preferring to complete required paperwork online, your patients will embrace your efforts to digitize the check-in process.

Patient attrition is an unenviable problem that many healthcare practices today need to confront. With the right tools and training in place, physicians and their staff can combat attrition and foster a welcoming, accessible, accommodating patient experience. Through their strategic use of technology, doctors can create office environments and processes that help them fully realize the lifetime value of each patient they serve.

Practices can mitigate attrition by investing in automated tools and implementing patient relations training.

How healthcare practices can resolve the common reasons behind patient attrition online and offline

A marketing strategy healthcare practices overlook when it comes to expanding their brand and patient reach is writing a blog.

Healthcare blogs give practices new opportunities to connect with patients in today’s digital world. Consistent blog posts on a healthcare practice’s website can attract new patients, drive patient conversion, and maintain engagement with current patients. The benefits of blog posts are twofold—from building rapport and establishing authority with prospective and current patients in a digital world, to increasing your brand’s reach through search engine optimization.

By focusing marketing efforts on a consistent and informative blog that lives on your practice website, you will move the needle on both ends of increased patient acquisition and retention.

5 states with the lowest physician salaries

 by PatientPop showed that two-thirds of patients look to their local healthcare provider as the trusted source of COVID-19 information. By sharing regular, helpful, and up-to-date information through an easily accessible blog, providers can educate prospective and current patients while solidifying their role as local healthcare leaders. Proactive communication is essential in educating patients and building provider-patient trust.

Utilizing a blog to educate and connect patients with services you provide at your practice gives them the information they need and the solutions they are looking for.

A healthcare blog can improve a practice’s 

 with each new blog post. A new blog post will appear on its own separate webpage on your website, and with each new page comes new material for Google and other search engines to find and index. By focusing each blog post on a particular specialty offered by your practice, a specific subject matter that is making news, or certain healthcare conditions and services, your website is providing search engines with increased material to point to on your site.

When it comes to local search, maintaining a blog for your healthcare practice increases your website’s overall volume of quality content; it enhances the topical keyword relevance across your entire site; and improves your domain authority, an important score that drives site rank.

When focused and consistent, blog posts about your practice’s specialty and services can improve your website’s page rank, which increases your visibility with potential patients.

Creating quality content and offering free value through a blog can help convert website visitors into patients. 

 demonstrates that businesses that blog have 55 percent more website visitors, with a 5x increase in the number of pages indexed by search engines.

An effective strategy for converting visitors into patients involves the use of a clear call-to-action (CTA) for each blog post. Once a visitor receives the information they are seeking out about a condition or service, offering a solution by driving them to schedule an appointment with your practice will push conversion. Another call-to-action option includes an email newsletter signup.

Healthcare blog posts can be used to dive into very specific topics. By providing information on defined, niche conditions or services, healthcare sites can set themselves apart from their competition. A prospective patient doing a search for practices that provide specialized services in their area will land on a blog post that provides them with the information they need on that service. By offering this free and valuable information, visitors will be more likely to book an appointment with a practice that has already proved their knowledge and experience on the subject, compared to one that has not.

To establish authority on particular topics, identify topic areas that tie into your practice and providers’ expertise. For example, if you run a radiology practice, your blog posts could highlight the latest imaging techniques and which conditions they’re used to diagnose and/or treat. When formulating blog posts, it’s important to think like a patient. Consider the questions you hear from patients most often and write a post catering to your everyday patient.

Keywords are also an important focus when crafting the perfect blog post. Following the radiologist example, if you have the only PET/CT in town, or are the only radiologist performing uterine fibroid embolization, focus on those topics and incorporate the relevant keywords into your headlines and copy. The more you can share about your services, the greater chance you have of being recognized as an authority above your competition.

Tips to become a successful practice manager

Maintaining a consistent blog makes patients feel informed, establishes provider reliability, and promotes engagement between patients and your healthcare brand. Blog posts can provide patients with a constant digital reminder about your practice. By maintaining consistency, you’ll assure followers and patients that you are committed to sharing valuable information on a regular basis. When your blog posts become the go-to source for healthcare insight, patient retention soars.

Strategies to maintain consistency in blog posts include a schedule tracker or editorial calendar. Having a system in place is necessary because the more you post, the greater the potential impact your healthcare blog will have.

With many medical marketing strategies to consider, allocating marketing resources to maintaining a consistent and focused blog is a tactic that can help take your practice brand to the next level.

Maintaining a consistent blog makes patients feel informed, establishes provider reliability, and promotes engagement between patients and your practice.