PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

Four pillars of a successful practice:
1. Keep your current patients happy

The cost of maintaining an existing customer is one-fifth the cost of acquiring a new one. Here are a few easy, inexpensive strategies to ensure patient satisfaction and loyalty.

Dr. Baum describes his number one strategy to retain patients

Dr. Baum practices urology in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is Associate Clinical Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School and Louisiana State University Medical School, both in New Orleans. He is also on the medical staff at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, and East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, Louisiana. And he is the author of Marketing Your Clinical Practice: Ethically, Effectively, Economically (4th edition, 2009; Jones & Bartlett).

The author reports no financial relationships relevant to this article.

The medical landscape has changed. No one is quite certain what the future will hold. One thing we do know: 20 million more Americans, half of them women, will enter the health-care system in the very near future, as the Affordable Care Act continues to unfold. This flood of new patients will affect nearly every ObGyn practice in the country because we lack an adequate increase in the number of physicians to care for them. In the meantime, what can you do to ensure the continued success of your practice? This series focuses on four key areas. I call them the “four pillars”:

• Keep existing patients happy

• Attract new patients

• Nurture relationships with your medical colleagues and other health-care providers, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners

• Maintain the morale of your staff.

No pillar is more important than the others; all four are necessary to guarantee success.