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How to Leverage Online Trends to
Drive Patient Acquisition
Welcome!
About the Presenters
• Tatiana Nikitina
• Matthew Holz
Vice President, Strategic Development
Director of Product Management
Vitals
BerylHealth
Online Trends
 The Internet has become a ubiquitous channel for consumers to
consult on health issues
 Most online consumers use major search engines to find
information they need
 Hospitals have a large opportunity to leverage the web to acquire
new patients
 Results from online patient acquisition programs support the
business impact of web marketing
Most US Adults are Online
 78% of US adults use the
Internet
 55% of US adults use the Internet
daily
 Americans spend 60 hours a
month online
Source: Huffington Post, 3/10/2012; Pew Internet Health (Aug’11 survey)
What About Health?
80% of Internet users search online for
HEALTH information
Looking Up Hospitals and Doctors Online
Patient Continuum
Symptoms
Talk to
family/friends
Research/
Education
Go Online Condition
Content Sites
Find a Doctor
Determine fit:
Schedule
Visit MD
Distance,
Appointment
Insurance, etc.
% of Internet Users Looking up Information About…
Specific disease or
condition
66%
Medical treatment or
procedure
56%
Doctors or other healthcare
professionals
Hospitals or other medical
facilities
56%
36%
Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project (2010)
Health Insurance
33%
Online Consumers Searches
 Google is #1 online brand (~85%
of online users visiting) and
Microsoft Bing is #2 (~63%)
– Comparatively, only 27% use social
networks
 80% of clicks are on the top
search results
 Only 5% go to the 2nd page
Source: Huffington Post “Internet usage statistics” (3/10/2012); Pew Internet 2012 Search study
What Does it Mean?
 Given consumer preference for digital channels, hospitals need to
build a strong digital footprint
 Maximize online consumers presence means creating multiple
“digital doors” to connect future patients with your physicians
 Hospitals need to optimize search engine strategy given how
consumers look for information
Who is Vitals?
•
Vitals – a leading consumer website connecting
patients with quality physicians and hospitals
•
~100 million patients come to Vitals each year
to find doctors, schedule appointments, or
prepare for a doctor visit
•
Vitals is powered by the industry’s most
comprehensive physician database and real
patients’ reviews
•
As an outgrowth of its consumer services,
Vitals provides patient acquisition and
marketing services to hospitals (Vitals Patient
Link)
BerylHealth / Vitals Approach to Hospital’s
Comprehensive Digital Footprint
• Enhanced profiles
with prominent callsto-action
• Online appointment
tools
• Enhanced physician
finder
Vitals
Network
Hospital
site
More Patients
with Right
Payor Mix
• Stand-alone sites
to increase presence
in Search
• Physician listings
powered by Vitals
• Online
appointment tools
Practice sites
• Prominent calls-toaction
• Online appointment
tools
Enhanced Web Referral Powered by
Vitals Patient Link Services
Integrated Physician Finder
Enhanced Physician Profiles on the Vitals Network
•
Prominent calls-to-action
•
Strong position in search
•
Built from hospital’s and/or
Vitals’ data sources with
the look and feel of your
site
•
Fully web-hosted
•
Supports page rank in
search using SEO practices
Enhanced Web Referral Powered by
Vitals Patient Link Services
Practice Sites for Hospitals
• Built by Vitals for
hospital practices and
specialties
• Promotes hospital
visibility in local Search
• Powered by Hospital’s
and Vitals’ physician
listings
Enhanced Web Referral Powered by
Vitals Patient Link Services
Online Appointment Tools
E-mail
Appointment
Requests
Online
Appointment
Scheduling
BerylHealth Referral Services Support
Patient Acquisition & Tracks Success
Referral Services Phone Line
(BerylHealth)
•
Support patient access and service
quality through call center
•
Inbound calls are tracked through
the call center system
•
Monthly reports detail referrals,
warm transfers and web search
statistics
•
Program impact measurement by
comparing ‘traditional’ vs. weboptimization driven referrals
Case Study – Major Eastern US Hospital
Current Situation
 Admissions in 2011: 17,455
 Active Physician Roster: 150
 Currently use BerylHealth’s traditional
marketing services with strong results
 Average of 513 Physician referral calls each
month
Case Study – Major Eastern US Hospital
Challenge




Highly competitive hospital market
Maintain market share
Increase physician referrals
Drive more appointments to physicians
Case Study – Major Eastern US Hospital
Solution
 Enhanced web referral program
 Engage more patients at the point of online searches
 Complement existing Physician Referral Program
Strategy by adding web referrals
 Prompt consumers to utilize the BerylHealth call
center to collected valuable demographic
information
 Warm transfer calls to the physician’s office to
secure an appointment
Case Study – Major Eastern US Hospital
Results
 Enhanced web referral solution – 3 months
 46% increase in physician referred calls
 Web calls: 95% referral rate
- 95% of Vitals calls result in a physician referral
 75% warm transfer rate for web referred calls
- 25% increase over the traditional referral
program warm transfer rate
 Doubled web profile view market share as a result
of physician profile SEO tactics
Increase in Physician Referred Calls
In Conclusion…
 Online is a powerful channel for hospitals to attract
new patients
– Frequently better payer mix
 Leverage consumer search behavior to better position
your hospitals’ physicians
 Track and measure to constantly optimize and
improve return
Questions?
Thank you for attending
Matt Holz matthew.holz@beryl.net
www.BerylHealth.com
Tatiana Nikitina tatiana.nikitina@vitals.com
www.vitals.com