KPIs for doctors
New innovative KPIs for leading doctors
Do you want to build a unique practice? It starts with defining your uniqueness as a doctor. As we will find out in this article, it’s not about adding more qualifications, listing your number of surgeries performed or publishing a paper every month. Here’s what our patient behaviour research tells us.
KPIs for doctors
New innovative KPIs for leading doctors
Kris Borgraeve
October 7, 2022
Three new KPIs leading doctors are using
key performance indicators
Key performance indicators for a successful private practice could be the number of consultations booked. The number of GP referrals received over the course of a month.
Many doctors look at those numbers and do number things. Like adding budget to their Google Ad campaigns. Investing in leaflets to distribute to GPs.
"The new and innovative key performance indicators you can introduce at your practice today, look at what the patient values most. Healing, treatment or a surgical solution are only one aspect on that wishlist."
Why some doctors refuse to go there
bedside manners
Did you just cringe? Is this too much about bedside manners? Relax.
I meet surgeons on a daily basis who will tell me their favourite time is in theatre. Now that we have established that you are perfectly normal, let’s move on.
"The most common objections I detect to work on people skills are as simple as not having the time to look into them and preferring to stay in the comfort zone. The doctors I see emerging as true leaders all take the time to step outside that comfort zone and grow."
The road toward more effective KPIs is a mindset shift. It’s a focus on the patient experience that is often non-clinical. It’s easy to think that this is not your problem. That the hospital will take care of food and paperwork, your reception team will handle the intake conversation and the receptionist will answer the FAQs.
The doctors I see taking ownership of the whole patient experience are also the ones I see filling their lists, doubling their practice size and growing into a genuine healthcare brand. So let’s focus on the less palatable but critical aspects of a private practice. The ones you won’t find in your practice if you have been focusing too much on the clinical, surgical, academic and rational sides of it.
The stuff that can’t go in a graphic
patient experience
What is a patient experience?
In the topics we research for our dozens of live strategies across the country, we notice a high level of interest for human topics.
- What to expect from a consultation?
- Why is this doctor a surgeon? What makes him/her tick?
- How will you take good care of me, other than performing surgery?
- Will you be a good listener, not just talking down to me as a patient?
- What have other patients said after they chose you as their specialist or surgeon?
- How will I look back at the whole experience, including the communication with your team?
Cynically, these aspects show up in Google reviews far more often than the detailed analysis of each surgical step the surgeon took. That makes sense if they were a) out and b) not medically trained. So why not focus more on the things patients do see?
Why it takes a new approach to succeed
the private practice
The private practice is a special concept. KPIs for doctor are not just about patient numbers. It takes healthcare slightly more into the space of a consumer experience, and quite often we look at healthcare as this giant space regulated or organised by the Government.
So all of a sudden, it pays to sometimes look at the private practice as just another business. I now, you have a galaxy of stricter guidelines to take into account compared to the coffee van down the road. But still.
"The patient is still a human being who chooses you as their service provider and who is not impressed simply by the fact that you studied more than the average, did more challenging types of work experience before you got qualified and obtained an academic status. The patient is a human being who needs help and that is their most important filter."
So what type of new approach can you put in place to become a leading surgeon, specialist, GP, allied health professional, dentist, psychologist?
The new approach adds a layer to the service delivery.
- Empathy: With a high focus on doing surgeries and organising treatment, it’s easy to lose track of what is at stake for the person in front of you. Practising empathy is never a waste of time and energy and there are many professionals who can assist you with it. It takes courage to even start this type of journey.
- Purpose: Reconnecting your online content to your story, your original purpose and the current ‘why’ behind the activities you perform, is an energising process. People feel it when you get passionate about creating the best possible solution for a healthcare problem.
- Presence: We all lead busy lives but when a person needs help with their help, your level of presence makes such a massive difference. It’s what people will talk about when they refer 5 friends to you. So it pays to switch your phone off, tell your receptionist not to disturb you and change your habits of checking emails with a patient in front of you. The higher the level of presence you can offer to this patient, the higher the likelihood this person will talk positively about the experience.
The blueprint for a seamless start in private practice
strategic marketing advice
Strategic marketing advice for the startup practice needs a few crucial components and you could say they are the perfect blueprint for a sustainable strategy:
- Market research: Identify your core services and business goals, and get reliable professional advice on the actual terms consumers type into Google.
- Brand story: Seek help from a qualified professional to tease out the story of your practice. If you resist the concept of creating a story around your surgical, clinical and scientific work, speak to our consultants to get clear about what it means and how it contributes to the performance of your practice.
- Content+Design+Development: Make sure your ongoing content production (or content marketing) is supported by market research and your brand story. Both the consumer and the Google crawlers (the algorithms that define how visible you will be in Google Search). Your medical web pages, your blogs, the way the information is organised in your design and the technical health of your medical website’s backend…It all works together to create the growth and success you are after.
Even if you have an established private practice, it may be worth revisiting your medical marketing strategy. The most essential KPIs for doctors are evolving rapidly, now that consumers use their digital tools throughout their entire healthcare journey.
We are here to help you navigate this important transition so you can build and develop a sustainable, profitable and balanced private practice that benefits your patients, your team and yourself as an owner/doctor.
Get a free 30-minute demo
marketing consultancy
Marketing consultancy is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Experience how we approach the development of your private practice by booking a free 1:1 Strategy Session here. I look forward to hearing more about your practice.
- Tags: Marketing for doctors
