My most commonly asked question is, “How do I get more patients?”

And who doesn’t want more patients?

Nothing matters more to your practice than new patients!

If it weren’t for a steady flow of patients, we would all be sitting around twiddling our thumbs or playing “guess the dysfunction” with our staff.

I think the biggest challenge we have as practice owners are balancing the countless number of “to-dos” on our plates with the implementation of new patient attraction strategies.

If you’re reading this and feeling as though you exhausted your new patient generation strategies or would just like to compare what you’re doing with what other practice owners are doing, here are 5 methods that I have personally used to generate NEW patients in LESS THAN 30 DAYS from implementation to results.

Patient Generation Tactic #1: Quality Assurance

During your patient’s 5th visit (assuming their plan of care is 8-12 visits), have them answer the following questions:

1. a)       How are you feeling compared to when you began treatment?
2. b)     What activity can you do better now than when you started therapy?
3. c)       Do you feel that we are on the right path in getting you back to {enter their long-term goals here}?
4. d)     Would you feel comfortable returning to {your practice name} for {physical therapy, chiropractic, etc.}?
5. e)     Do you know of one person {family member, friend, work colleague, neighbor} that could benefit from our service?

Ideally, you want to have the patient fill this out prior to their appointment and have a clinician go through their answers with them.

If a patient is not progressing as you would expect them to or does not feel they are moving in the direction, reassess their situation and skip the last two questions.

However, if their answers are positive and they have given you a name, like 80% of our patients, then ask for the best way to connect with that person. Please note: THIS IS NOT A SALES TACTIC. If you treat this as a non-genuine sales tactic, you will not get results.

By having the mindset and intention that you are helping their friend, family member, or colleague who is having an issue by providing expert service and advice, patients will love your practice, you, and your offerings even more!

Patient Generation Tactic #2: Call Back

I have yet to meet an owner who doesn’t know this tactic, but most of them don’t do it! I’ll make this as easy as possible for you to implement.

1.       Have your office manager or front desk person print out the patient discharge list from 3 months ago. If this is the first time you’re using this strategy, go back further than 3 months.
2.       Send an email to each person that includes the following information:
3.       Name
4.       Why you are contacting them
5.       When they were last seen for treatment
6.       What they were treated for
7.       Something personal about them (if possible)
8.       If they’re not 100% pain-free, invite them for a free consult
9.       If they are 100% pain-free, ask them if they know one person who has back pain (or whatever you treat) and the best way to connect with this person
10.       Create a template email that can be used for every patient so you’re only inserting the information above. Utilizing an email system like MailChimp or Constant Contact can help streamline this process.
11.       Once your email template is done, go ahead and fill in the information for the discharged patients and send them out.
12.       BONUS: Add a phone call in addition to the email. It is a little more time-consuming, but we found that an email with a call generated significantly more engagements with the patients and ultimately referrals into the practice.

Each time you do this, you will learn the little nuances to better engage and speak with previous patients. If you’re doing this for the first time, I highly recommend, YOU, THE OWNER, do the calls. It’s not only a great learning experience for you, but a great way to spend your time. Remember, many new patients are worth up to $1000 per case.

Patient Generation Tactic #3: Referral Incentive

Word of mouth is the strongest form of referral to any practice. So why not reward your staff for it? If they create a great experience for the patient and that patient refers someone to your practice, give them a reward.

When one of my clinicians was able to encourage their patient to refer someone to our practice, and that person actually became a patient, the patient would receive a small bonus or gift card (anywhere from $20-$25 per referral).

The only stipulation we had was that the therapist had to inform the front desk person of the potential new patient’s name. Of course, this would come from the patient telling the therapist. If the person came into the clinic and was billed as a new patient, then the therapist received their bonus the following month.

There are a lot of different ways to go about rewarding your clinicians for referrals that cost the practice nothing. What I have found is that the most outgoing and personable therapists will generate significantly more referrals than introverts. And that’s totally okay! Just keep encouraging everyone to play the game.

Patient Generation Tactic #4: Doctor’s Front Office Visits

I know you hate going to doctor’s offices. I get it…I do too! However, if a doctor’s practice sent you a new patient, would you say no thanks? Didn’t think so!

1.       Go to 20 offices over the next 2 weeks (if you’re not busy treating patients) or have your assistant go.
2.       If you don’t already know the front desk person, introduce yourself and break the ice with an observable statement. Example: Hi, my name is Jamey with Schrier Physical Therapy. Looks like you’re a pro the way you’re handling things here.
3.       Ask them if they have 2 minutes to answer a couple of questions. DO NOT skip this part and wait for them to answer. Be respectful of their time.
4.       If they say yes, ask these 2 questions:
5.       Do you refer out to {physical therapy, chiropractic, etc.}?
6.       How does this process occur? Who is responsible for this?
7.       Thank them for their time and leave. If they engage with you and you feel you have a really good rapport, continue your conversation.

This will benefit your practice in many ways, even if it doesn’t seem like it at first. The key is to visit 20-25 offices and gather information on how they run things. The next step is to use this information and strategize. This exercise will spark new referrals quickly.

 Patient Generation Tactic #5: Thank You Notes

Thank you notes represent one of the most important principles I teach practice owners in my program.

That principle is gratitude. And it’s more powerful than you can imagine.

Send out a thank you note to every new patient and referral source who refers you a new patient. A handwritten note isn’t required, but it is MORE POWERFUL if it is handwritten versus a pre-printed card.

What should this card say?

First of all, write in the same way you would if you were thanking a friend who just gave you $1000. What would you say?

I am sure you’d be very appreciative of them. You’d also probably feel very proud that you gained their trust and belief in treating their friend, family member, or colleague.

Want to have double the impact?

Send thank-you notes to all the office staff you visited during your 20 visits in the last step. NO ONE sends thank you notes to the front office people EVER. You’ll really stand out and it is a great way to keep your name in front of the people who often make the most recommendations.

I have written hundreds of cards over the years (and still do!), and no two cards are the same. The message depends on the relationship I have with the person.

I would also suggest that every clinician in your practice does this. I realize they will initially think it’s just more “busy work”. But, if you explain it in terms of being grateful for their referrals and that these referrals are the sole reason they have jobs, maybe the perspective will be different.

You need to set an example. Don’t expect any of your staff to send out thank you notes regularly if you don’t.

This strategy may take a little longer than 30 days to produce new patients, but it’s a powerful strategy that we have linked back to send out thank you cards.

For those of you thinking “I can just send them an email”. Try both and see which one gets better feedback. Remember, most people get tons of emails, but few get personal handwritten cards in the mail.

Good luck and I hope these 5 new patient strategies jumpstart your referrals!

If you have any questions regarding any of my strategies or have other challenges in your practice affecting your ability to grow, you can send me an email at jamey@practicefreedomu.com.

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