As healthcare systems continue to adapt to changing market forces, the fight is on to attract, engage, and keep the best physicians in your network. Creating mutually beneficial relationships with physicians helps healthcare organizations compete in an evolving market and will help improve patient experiences.

Purposeful physician engagement is a critical part of developing long-term relationships – and these relationships are a key ingredient to healthcare organizations’ efforts to increase market share and drive revenue. In addition, health systems with engaged physicians often see lower costs, improved care, greater efficiency, and higher physician satisfaction and retention.

Enhanced engagement also helps grow in-network referrals by connecting physicians through a common sense of quality care delivery and organizational value. On the financial side of things, physician engagement helps reduce referral leakage and can build loyalty organically.

Let’s take a closer look at three keys to engaging physicians and building long-term relationships:

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With the movement from fee-for-service models towards value-based care—which emphasize the whole patient and care quality, rather than siloed care and serving as many patients as possible—techniques for driving revenue must be updated to align with the evolving healthcare market. Targeted service line development and growth does still fit into these new value-based care initiatives.

When it comes to growing service lines, physicians remain a crucial part of the equation. Healthcare organizations need to be more strategic about their physician engagement and alignment in order to effectively grow service lines—and the organization—effectively in this new environment.

Regardless of where your organization sits on the journey to increased value-based care, proper physician alignment has benefits that resonate throughout your organization, such as:

• Increased Inpatient Referrals: According to Gallup findings, engaged physicians gave their hospitals 51 percent more inpatient referrals than physicians who were not engaged. The result: an increase in initial revenue, as well as inpatient retention numbers. Keep in mind that in-network referrals are incredibly valuable—referrals from a single physician are estimated to bring in $1.56 million in net revenue.
• Greater Productivity & Revenue: The Gallup study also found that engaged physicians were 26 percent more productive than non-engaged physicians. This added productivity can result in $460,000 more patient revenue per physician per year.
• Improved Patient Experiences: Physician alignment is crucial for a smooth transition to value-based care models, which support patients taking a more active role in their own care. By aligning physicians with your value-based goals, you encourage them to better engage with patients throughout new types of care journeys that not only treat current health issues, but prioritize health maintenance to prevent further complications. Creating these types of patient-focused experiences is crucial to your organization’s financial performance; an Accenture study found that U.S. hospitals that deliver superior patient experiences generate 50 percent higher margins than average providers.

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This is the final post in a three-part series that discusses the changing healthcare landscape and the need for marketing teams to engage patients across their healthcare journey, extend patient lifetime value, and increase patient acquisition and retention. Read the first post on why it’s imperative for hospitals to approach patient acquisition and retention in more intelligent ways. And then check out the second post to learn how using personalized, multi-channel campaigns helps achieve the goal of patients for life.  

Achieving – and maintaining – physician loyalty is one of the most impactful efforts a health organization can undertake.

Doing it successfully has positive repercussions across the organization, from driving revenue and increasing patient engagement to extending patient lifetime value.

Statistics tell a compelling story: a 30-50 percent out-of-network loss translates to a $4-8 billion problem. And, a single provider’s referrals are estimated to bring in $1.56 million in net revenue – that’s what’s at stake with every physician relationship. Not only that, but when patients go to out-of-network providers, key encounters are lost to a competitor.

At health organizations across the country, physician liaison teams often lack the data and insights necessary to be a revenue-protecting and growth force. Without market data, the understanding of provider referral networks, and the right relationship management technology, liaison teams aren’t able to inform leadership, prioritize outreach efforts and align with organizational goals.

How can organizations develop valuable and lasting relationships with providers in their community? How can these relationships be leveraged to grow high-value service lines and achieve patients for life?

The first step is changing how healthcare enables physician liaison teams and prioritizes outreach efforts. A physician relationship management (PRM) solution is the foundation that supports health organizations in their efforts to optimize their provider network. Let’s take a deeper look:

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The road to becoming a physician demands many years of schooling and residency – the cost, time, and knowledge required, combined with a number of healthcare policy changes, discourages many young adults from pursuing this profession.

Simply put, the United States is not adding enough new physicians to keep up with the growing demand for them.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projects that by the year 2030 there could be a physician shortfall as low as 40,000 doctors to as high as 104,000 doctors. Now more than ever, healthcare organizations must focus on attracting and retaining physicians to ensure organizational success.

To do this, health systems need to implement a comprehensive physician alignment strategy. If organizations do not start to plan, design, and execute a physician outreach and alignment program now, they won’t be able to overtake competitors or retain physicians in the future. The four steps outlined in this post can help ensure that health systems’ physician outreach strategy is well thought-out, data-driven, and ultimately leads to alignment.
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Physicians are the lifeblood of healthcare organizations; by providing excellent patient care, they foster patient loyalty and bring revenue into the organization. Since they are so vital to healthcare operations, health systems need to keep their physicians productive and engaged. The best way to accomplish this is through a focused physician engagement strategy.

The first step in creating this strategy is collecting and analyzing data about physicians and the patients they treat. Specialized physician liaison teams use this data to inform their outreach strategies and ensure their efforts are communicated properly. This outreach is intended to help physicians improve the care they are giving their patients, handle issues physicians may be facing in their work, increase the number of in-network referrals physicians are providing, and boost financial performance.

Let’s look at how healthcare organizations can use claims data insights to create successful physician outreach efforts:
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