By Ryan C. Wineinger, OD
Double your marketing impact by combining information from your electronic health record and practice management systems to create effective e-mail marketing systems, social media communications and online sales tools.
Electronic health records are a practice builder in the efficiency in work and patient flow the technology allows, but there is another advantage to using EHR–the ability to combine it with other technology for greater communications capability. My practice is able to take the information about patients stored in our EHR, OfficeMate ExamWRITER, and then use it to launch marketing campaigns. For example, we can track in our EHR all patients who are at high risk for macular degeneration and send them health reminders to keep up with their regular check-ups, provide additional information about their disease and maybe even provide special offers on nutraceuticals that may help them. Or, we could look up all those patients who are new contact lens wearers and send them to our Facebook page for reminders on proper wear and care and perhaps an offer on plano sunwear.
Three Steps to Use EHR and Other Software to Communicate with Patients
Collect Info
Mine Data
Manage Communication with Patients
Cull Information from Both EHR and Practice Management System
Using a system such as Demandforce, we can create marketing campaigns based on information we have put into our PM system. We can run campaigns on things such as dry eye and the benefit of daily contact lenses for those patients. The e-mail addresses captured in the PM system can then be used to send out these campaigns at a very low cost. We can then do active marketing based on diagnoses that are placed into our EHR and mine Demandforce for addresses of people that match certain ICD-9 diagnoses put into the system. For example, when the Alcon multifocal came out, we mined our database for patients with a diagnosis of presbyopia and did a marketing campaign to those patients advertising that a new product is out that might be beneficial to them.
Look for Ability for Tight Integration Between EHR and Marketing Tool
We used Demandforce this year and have been very happy with the capability of their system to work closely with our EHR system. This tight integration allows us to enter data at one point–our PM system–and use that information to text patients about upcoming appointments at a pre-selected time frame in the Demandforce system. It also allows us to send a text message to a patient that products are ready to be picked up at the office such as when eyeglasses or contact lenses are ready.
We are also in the process of setting up our practice with the EyeXam software, which will get us into the mobile market and give our patients the ability to send messages directly to the practice. This will allow us to have a SMS communication avenue with patients on any question they may have. The app will also allow patients to schedule an appointment from their phone. This will give us the ability to have a full range of options for our patients to schedule their appointments by having this capability on our web site, Facebook page, and now, the patient’s mobile device.
Start a Texting Conversation with Patients
The main attraction I have to the EyeXam app is that their system will allow two-way communication with patients in a texting conversation. Our staff will continually monitor our EyeXam dashboard so that they can provide instantaneous responses to patients on anything that they may need or want.
Use Patient History to Create Promotions Like Contests
We are also currently using Demandforce to power e-blasts. They call these e-blasts “campaigns” in their system and we have been trying to do one every six to eight weeks over the past year. We had a sunglasses giveaway campaign this summer by patients liking our Facebook page and we sent that out via a campaign in Demandforce. We also gave away a supply of contact lenses on a drawing from people who checked in on Facebook while they were at the practice. We did a campaign out to all of our patients before this contest launched to let them know we were having the drawing.
But Ask Patients to Opt-In
Patients have to opt in to the Demandforce system to get text messages from our practice. Once we gather their cell phone number into our system they get a text asking if they would like to opt-in into our text messaging system. We attempt to gather an e-mail address on every patient that is in our practice. When patients check into our practice they are presented with a form that has all of their insurance eligibility and what their co-pays are. For example, a VSP patient will have their exam co-pay amount listed, along with whether they are eligible for eyeglasses or contact lenses and what amounts they are eligible for. At the top of the form there is a line for their e-mail address and we put their current one on the line if we have it. If we don’t have one on file, we ask them to fill it in, and if they do have one, we ask that they verify that it is correct.
Maximize Marketing Via EHR + Communications Tools:
Action Plan
Choose the social marketing platform you are most comfortable with and do it well. Don’t get lost in all of the different options that are out there, and while getting lost in the options, not do anything at all. We use Twitter and Facebook and put a good amount of time into utilizing that tool to market to our patients.
Add tools that allow for communication via mobile devices. Society today is looking for good service and convenience. So, having tools like the EyeXam app that we can use to communicate with patients via their mobile device helps provide superior service.
Survey your patients. Ask patients if they have had any interaction with your practice’s social media pages. Also ask if they have a mobile device and whether they are interested in checking out your practice using a tool such as the EyeXam app. Once you have that information, you can decide which communication tools are most helpful and which you may want to use less.
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Ryan C. Wineinger, OD, is co-owner of Wineinger Vision Associates in Shawnee, Kan. He can reached at: rwineinger@gmail.com.
