10 Patient Acquisition Strategies

10 strategies to improve your patient acquisition

Some or all of the following strategies for bringing in new patients may prove effective:

1. Use internet ads to find new patients.

Let’s say you’re a neurologist in Raleigh, and someone in your area searches for “neurologist Raleigh.” What do you think will happen if a competitor’s neurology practice ranks higher in the customer’s search results than yours? Better yet, what if you never had to think about the answer? 

Enter Google Ads — just one of many types of internet ads that can help you target potential new patients. Google Ads places you at the top of relevant user queries. You can localize these and other internet ads to target people in your market.

Similarly, run ads on social media to catch potential patients when they’re not consciously searching for medical assistance. For example, someone who’s been experiencing nerve pain might finally feel compelled to act if an ad for your practice jumps out from their Facebook feed.

2. Create SEO-friendly web content to draw in new patients.

Let’s say you don’t want to spend money on ads targeting potential new patients. You can still take steps to outrank competitors in internet searches for free. The answer lies in SEO and web content. 

First, determine some common phrases for which your target audience searches. Then, incorporate these phrases naturally into the text on your social media pages and business website.

It’s important to create a steady stream of web content into which you can insert key search phrases. Your practice’s blog posts — most business websites should incorporate a blog — are an excellent solution. If you write about topics relevant to your target audience and include pertinent phrases, your chances of outranking your competitors increase. And you don’t have to spend money to write blogs or come up with phrases for which people might be searching.

3. Highlight your positive online reviews to attract new patients.

Whether via paid internet ads or on your website, highlighting excellent reviews from your current patients is key to acquiring new ones. That’s not just supposition: 93 percent of people say that ratings and reviews shape their spending decisions. 

Your practice is a business, and it’s as susceptible to reviews as any other. When you proudly display positive online reviews on your practice’s website’s homepage, you immediately show your trustworthiness. This is a great way to get new patients in the door quickly.

4. Maintain a strong social media presence to acquire new patients.

Social media is unique in that people can randomly stumble upon new and interesting accounts while browsing their platforms of choice. In such an open environment, you only have a few seconds to make a meaningful impression. Don’t be afraid to load your social media pages with crisp images, infographics, videos and visual quotes that attest to your services.

Better yet, social media often allows you to analyze how well your content is performing with potential patients. Many platforms include analytics tools that tell you how many people saw your content and how many people further engaged with it. You can uncover engagement trends that point to which types of content interest people most. From there, you can upload similar posts to attract new customers.

5. Build a strong online reputation to attract new patients.

Through online reputation management services, you can build a pristine web presence that helps persuade potential patients to contact you. These services handle the content creation tactics and help you get more patient reviews while addressing negative ones. They can also offer public relations (including crisis management) and remove negative content.

Some online reputation management services are tailored specifically to patient acquisition and the medical sector. In the early 2020s, one such company, PatientPop, merged with Tebra, one of the best electronic medical records (EMR) software providers. This merger means you’ll get built-in tools for patient acquisition when you use Tebra’s medical software, known for its ease of use. Read our Tebra review to learn more about this software.

Using these tools is an excellent way to acquire patients, care for them and retain them — all under one roof.

6. Set up mobile intake for new patients.

Long gone are the days of patient intake occurring upon a new patient’s first in-person visit to your practice. Instead, intake can happen entirely online if you use HIPAA-compliant digital intake forms. 

The benefits of this technology are numerous. For starters, you score major points with potential new patients when you empower them to get started with your practice right from home. After all, virtually all consumers are seeking convenience and ease of use. 

Relatedly, you’ll likely find intake forms easier to organize, sort and look through when completed and stored digitally. Everything will be in one place you can access from any internet-connected device.

7. Optimize your practice’s website with calls to action for new patients.

Regardless of whether you pursue the website SEO strategies outlined earlier in this article, adding some calls to action (CTAs) to your website is important. It’s also super easy — a great call to action is short and snappy. It’s also compelling, and it clearly states what you want the reader to do. 

As their name suggests, CTAs should also be action-oriented. “Book an appointment now!” as the copy for a button that directs website visitors to your appointment booking page is a great example. So too is “Fill out our intake form” on a link that goes to your online intake form. Both these CTAs convey a sense of urgency that makes the reader more likely to act in the way you have in mind. Taking this action gets them one step closer to becoming a patient.

8. Implement a self-scheduling platform for all patients.

Another way to give new patients some at-home convenience is to implement an online platform through which anyone can schedule their own appointments. This platform will couple neatly with your website CTAs since it’s a logical place to direct users whom your CTAs convert into becoming patients. Plus, it’s a delight for your current patients too, and their happiness with it may translate to positive online reviews that might attract new patients.

9. Build a community for new patient referrals.

Yes, the world of patient acquisition is, like so many business realms, an increasingly digital realm. However, the power of actual interpersonal connection will never lose its value. Namely, growing a network — a community — of other healthcare providers from whom you can obtain referrals is a reliable way to acquire new patients. Try offering incentives to any healthcare providers or practices who send patients your way.

Your referral network can also include clinics and hospitals in your market. Though these facilities are large, they aren’t always home to the specialized healthcare providers their patients often need to see. Make yourself known to the healthcare providers in these large facilities, and you might get an influx of new patients heading your way.

10. Prioritize your existing patients to maximize word-of-mouth potential.

A whopping 81 percent of people research, buy or consider buying a product or service if they hear about it from friends, family or influencers. That’s the power of word-of-mouth referrals in a nutshell, and your practice should harness this power. 

Think about it like this: Suppose you’re giving your patients the best possible experience before, during and after visits. Now, suppose someone with whom an existing patient is close winds up needing the medical services that you offer. Chances are that your super-happy patient will recommend you and your practice to this potential new patient. 

Given the built-in trust between this potential new patient and your current patient, the former will almost certainly visit your website. If you’ve implemented some of the other strategies on this list, your potential new patient might take the leap into becoming an actual new patient. 

What is patient acquisition?

Patient acquisition encompasses all strategies your practice implements to bring in new patients. It primarily involves marketing efforts that spotlight your medical practice’s distinguishing features and how they differ from your competitors. Its focus is on patients who have never before used your services rather than your existing patient base.

Why is patient acquisition important?

Below are a small handful of reasons why patient acquisition matters.

It’s vital to fee-for-service practices’ success.

Many practices — perhaps including yours — earn their reimbursements via a standard fee-for-service model. Under this model, your practice’s revenue increases as you see more patients. This arrangement presents a significant challenge, assuming most of your patients are healthy: How often can you really get your patients to make appointments? Probably not that often, which isn’t great for your revenue. Acquiring new patients can help.

The more patients you bring into your practice, the more appointments you can make. When you have more appointments, you can earn more revenue. It’s easier to turn a profit when you can source appointments from a wider pool of patients than the same core group.

It’s a financially savvy strategy for practices offering value-based healthcare.

You could argue that the emergence of value-based healthcare models through the government’s MIPS (Merit-Based Incentive Payment System) program lessens the need for patient acquisition. But that argument is flawed. Yes, MIPS can increase your reimbursement per patient, but seeing more patients is still a direct throughline to greater revenue. MIPS can also decrease your reimbursement per patient. In that case, patient acquisition could help stabilize your finances.

It has positive ripple effects for your existing patients.

Many of the steps you might take to acquire new patients also improve your practice’s presence among existing patients. For example, setting up online self-scheduling lowers the barriers to both new patients signing up for your services and current patients making additional appointments. 

Additionally, as you build a network of healthcare providers for new patient referrals, you can also direct your existing patients to these providers when necessary. This and the self-scheduling examples are just two ways in which, when you put in the work to acquire new patients, everyone wins.

What’s the difference between patient acquisition and patient retention? 

While patient acquisition solely concerns potential new customers, patient retention concerns only your current patients. All patient acquisition initiatives seek to bring you new patients, whereas patient retention efforts seek to prevent current patients from abandoning you for a competitor. (You also need to acquire patients before you can retain them.)

A patient acquisition strategy could involve aiming to place your practice’s website higher in search engine results pages for relevant local queries. That’s because people searching for, say, “podiatrist Brooklyn” are clearly looking for a new doctor. If you’re a podiatrist, you could be that doctor. 

Chances are your current patients aren’t searching for “podiatrist Brooklyn” on Google — well, unless they’re unhappy with you. Patient retention strategies help keep them happy. They require positive, attentive patient interactions with front-office staff and medical personnel. Your front-office staff can also schedule future appointments as patients leave or call them when a new appointment is necessary to maximize retention.

Acquiring new patients can keep current patients happy too

Excellent patient acquisition involves improving your online presence, streamlining your patient-facing administrative operations and linking up with other healthcare providers. All these steps also improve your current patients’ experience with you. The more work you put into bringing new patients in, the more you serve your existing customer base as well.