What if every patient you discharged referred another patient to your practice?
That’s possible!
But it won’t happen by itself. Maintaining professionalism and courteousness in your practice and providing exceptional service is necessary to get word-of-mouth referrals.
But good service alone won’t get you referrals! You need to market your practice. You need to make it easy for doctors and patients alike to refer to you.
Here are a few simple, effective ways to increase physical therapy referrals to your practice!
Kickstart Referrals with Direct Mail
Despite people’s tendency to assume that direct mail has been replaced by digital marketing, direct mail remains a powerful tool. According to Forbes, direct mail is still considered superior to other marketing channels in many ways. Research suggests that response rates to direct mail are anywhere from 10 to 30 times higher than response rates to digital marketing. This is due in part to the overwhelming amount of junk mail that increasingly clutters people’s inboxes.
People are also more receptive to direct mail because it is tangible, a quality that still matters to people and that cannot be substituted. Even many millennials prefer mail because of its built-in emotional response factor. Direct mail remains an effective marketing tool because it makes the recipient feel more valued and creates a more authentic relationship. While email and an active presence on social media are important tools, don’t overlook the impact of direct mail.
Finally, direct mail is seen by 90% of recipients — while, on average, only 30% of people will open your email!
How To Increase Word-of-Mouth Referrals
The power of word-of-mouth is astounding. No amount of marketing can compete with a personal recommendation from a trusted friend or family member. However, it is always important to remember that referrals only come from satisfied patients.
You can easily harness the power of word-of-mouth rehab practice referrals by implementing these strategies:
- Have an awesome in-clinic patient experience
- Ask for the referral directly
- Make it easy for patients to refer!
Make Your In-Clinic Experience Amazing
The patient experience is more important than ever. The transition to more consumer-driven healthcare has made every interaction between a patient and your staff even more critical to ensuring the highest level of engagement and satisfaction. When patients advocate your practice to others, it is to improve the quality of life of a friend or family member, so it is important to remember to listen carefully to each patient’s individual concerns and value every patient interaction.
Ensure that your staff takes the time to give patients a positive experience. This means valuing each interaction with every patient. Take the time to truly listen to patients’ needs and share in their successes. When a patient experiences positive results from your care, they are more likely to refer someone they know.
Finally, make sure your patients complete their plan of care! The patients who complete their plan of care are the ones who see the most improvement–and the ones who are most likely to become raving fans of your practice!
Ask For a Referral Directly
Ask your patients: “Who is one person you know who could also benefit from physical therapy”?
Skyrocketing your word of mouth referrals can be as simple as asking for a referral. When a patient is about to complete their plan of care, or if they’ve just had a breakthrough therapy session, ask them if they know a friend or family member who could also use help from physical therapy.
Frame this request as a desire to help more people get pain relief naturally– because that’s true! Ask for a specific name, and ask your patient to reach out to them this week.
When you literally just ask for a referral, you’ll see your word-of-mouth referrals and number of new patients explode! Sometimes it’s the simple tips that work the best. Make sure all your PTs and staff know to ask people for referrals, as well. This should be your clinic’s policy!
Make it Easy to Refer
Have you ever shown a friend or family member a brochure? I certainly have!
Give your patients the tools they need to refer their friends and family! It’s amazing how powerful a tangible product like an informational card or a newsletter can be in increasing referrals. Your patient can physically hand the card to their family member as they talk about the great experience they had with you.
Here are some ideas…
- By providing patients with informational cards highlighting all of the conditions physical therapy can help with, you encourage them to share that information with others.
- Mailing a monthly newsletter to existing and past patients can also boost word-of-mouth referrals. When patients complete physical therapy treatment, they tend to forget the benefits over time. A newsletter provides an opportunity every month to remind patients of the benefits of physical therapy.
How To Increase Physician Referrals
Physician referrals to physical therapy may be on the decline – but that doesn’t mean you should ignore them!
Like patient referrals, physician referrals result from the referring physician’s personal experience and positive relationship with the physical therapist. The key to increasing these physician referrals is to continuously build relationships with other physicians. Educate doctors by providing information on how physical therapy can improve the lives of their patients and help them recover faster.
While it is important to maintain professional relationships with primary care physicians and to educate them about the ways in which physical therapy, rehab and physiotherapy can assist their patients in recovering from injury or chronic pain, it is just as important to develop relationships with specialists who treat such patients.
Specialists frequently initiate referrals, bypassing primary care physicians. Therefore, it is vital for your physical therapy or rehab practice to network with orthopedic surgeons and specialists. Tailoring your communication to specialists who are more likely to refer patients to your practice will be the most effective strategy to increase physician referrals.
Studies have shown that physicians choose colleagues for referrals based primarily on their perceptions of their colleagues’ interactions with patients, as well as their medical skills.
Some ways to maximize referrals from surgeons and specialists include:
- Research doctors in your area who specialize in orthopedics and joint replacement;
- Add those doctors to your mailing lists;
- Create a personalized mailer tailored to patients’ post-surgical rehabilitation needs and mail one to each specialist at least once a quarter;
- Include testimonials from past referrals.
Finally, no other interaction has more impact than face-to-face. Make time to foster deeper personal connections with colleagues over lunch or coffee.
How To Convert Referrals Into Appointments
A significant number of referrals do not make appointments or, if they do make an appointment, do not show up for their appointment. Reasons for the disconnect include problems with the physical therapy physician referrals processes and delays in scheduling referral appointments. A Duke University study found that only about 35% of referral attempts resulted in completed appointments. It is estimated that missed appointments cost the U.S. healthcare system more than $150 billion a year.
Do you make it easy for referred patients to schedule an appointment? Timeliness in scheduling is key to closing the referral loop. Poor referral management is harmful not only to the health of your physical therapy practice but, more importantly, to the health of patients. When a referral is ready for scheduling, it is critical that your office implement a system to contact patients with the right message at the right time in order to improve patient outcomes.
Do You Have an Effective Referral System in Place?
Because many referrals don’t result in an appointment, specialists need to optimize their systems to ensure no referrals get missed.
Like anything in healthcare, there are a lot of moving parts that can impact the lines of communication and make essential administrative tasks harder to complete correctly. Referral management is no different. With physical therapy physician referrals being such an essential aspect of the financial well-being of your physical therapy practice, streamlining the process and making it a collaborative effort for all involved is essential.
The number one reason so many patient referrals fall through the cracks is that the office is not accessible. One way to combat the problem is to designate a staff member to be the primary contact for referrals from other physicians. If a patient can’t obtain an appointment with the intended physical therapist, then they may go to someone else or to no one at all. In addition, a dedicated referral line can reduce time spent navigating phone trees, waiting on hold or playing “telephone tag.”
Rethink Your Referral Process with the Practice Promotions Team!
Referrals have long been and will remain a pivotal component to the growth of your physical therapy, physiotherapy or rehab practice. When you increase your word-of-mouth and physician referrals, your practice will explode with new patients! Contact us today to learn more about how we can help boost your physical therapy doctor referrals and increase your patient traffic.
