Some practices might struggle with holiday revenue dips due to decreased patient visits. These techniques help keep revenue flowing in your practice.
Holidays are a time to spend with family and friends. However, this time of year is full of trips, food, family, and social gatherings, so people don’t usually focus on their health during these months.
Depending on the practice’s specialty, this season context can lead to lower patient visits and struggles to keep revenue flowing in December and slower months, like January and early February.
Physicians can implement some techniques to keep visits and revenue flowing for their practice:
1. Schedule follow-up visits
Review your patient list and identify which patients have not been followed up in your practice for a while. Depending on the patient’s condition, follow-ups can happen once every month, every three months, or even every six months. Staying on top of that is essential so your patients don’t forget their regular appointments.
Scheduling follow-up visits will help you continue receiving patients during this time of year. Call or email patients to let them know they missed their last follow-up appointment and remind them to reschedule.
Ensure your patients get on schedule before the end of the calendar year. They can use their benefits for the remainder of the year before they reset. This can help you increase your revenue while assisting patients by paying less for their doctor’s appointments.
Learn more about improving patient visits to increase revenue on our blog One more patient per day and the benefits for your medical practice.
2. Coordinate annual wellness visits
Set up appointments for preventative care. Every patient can go for a routine check-up once a year without any medical symptoms. Insurance companies must pay for these annual visits for all their subscribers without applying deductibles or copayments. Insurance covers the total allowed amount.
This is a good time for your practice to investigate how many patients have not set an appointment for that regular check-up in the year. This is good for your patients because they can find something that could save their lives. And it’s also suitable for your practice to keep revenue flowing during these months.
3. Market your practice
Utilize marketing strategies to promote your practice during the Holidays. Boost your services and offer special discounts or attractive offers during this time of year to increase patient visits.
Consider sending a festive greeting via email or broadcasting using your patient portal or other engagement system. This can be sent to your current patients to maintain their loyalty and engagement with your business.
Also, remember to announce your hours during the Holidays. Is your practice going to close on Christmas or New Year? Will your practice close early on specific days? Keep your patients aware of any change to your regular service hours. You can do this through your website, social media, and other communication channels you typically use.
A good marketing strategy can provide your practice with many different benefits. Learn more about this on our blog How to market your medical practice and improve your business.
4. Get referrals from your patients
Increase referrals to get new visits. Loyal and happy patients often want to share their great experiences with family and friends. This can translate into referrals that bring your medical practice more patients.
Be proactive when asking for referrals. Some patients might get caught up in celebrations and forget to share their positive experiences in your practice with others, especially during this time of year. Add extra cards to your mailings, give them referral cards during the appointment, or even provide links to review sites through your social media pages.
Also, referrals can come from more than satisfied patients. Consider creating a referral bonus scheme for your employees if they help you bring more patients to the practice.
5. Make sure you won’t run out of staff
If your practice takes steps to ensure your business stays financially healthy via increased patient visits, you must ensure your staffing is done accordingly.
Many employees take extra time off during this time of year. Ensure you coordinate within your office to have enough personnel to assist expected patients during the Holidays. The last thing you want to do is make your office busy during this time of year and not have enough staff to satisfy your patients’ needs properly.
Implement these strategies to ensure revenue and increase patient visits during these months.
At Health Prime, we understand the importance of keeping your revenue flowing all year to maximize your income, assist patients properly, and optimize your medical practice to succeed.
If you want more information about how we can help you, email us at [email protected]. Set up a meeting to discuss how we can help you get your practice back in its prime.
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