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Topics : e-Visits

Marketing E-Visits

You've done your due diligence, developed written policies, implemented a Web site and secure communications portal, and got your staff trained. Now you're ready to rollout your e-Visits. Here are a few ideas to help market your new services.

And be sure you check out the marketing pieces created by Katrina Tayor at Trinity Clinic Whitehouse.

A few ideas to get you rolling...

• Make sure to print your Web site address on appointment cards, business cards, letterhead and patient handouts.


• Don't forget to emphasize your Web site on voicemail and hold messages, especially if you offer online appointment scheduling, e-Visits, or online lab results that might transfer interruptive and low-priority phone traffic to the Web.


• Hang attractive posters in the lobby and patient rooms advertising the Web site and highlight the self-service convenience options for patients.


• Add a prominent, clearly-labeled link or button the home page of your Web site to quickly direct Web visitors to user-friendly information on your e-Visits.


• Send an email to patients new and old explaining the new services, how patients benefit and how to get access to their doctor via the Web.


• Duplicate the information above on flyers that can be placed in the waiting area and used as handouts for staff to give to patients when they check in or out.


• Add to each statement: “For added convenience, pay your bill at www.mypractice.com”


• Consider adding a secured kiosk or laptop to your reception area so that patients can enter their Personal Health Record information or complete their health history while they wait.


• If you have a print or online newsletter, focus on e-Visits in one issue, online lab results the next, online bill payment the next, and so on.


• Make brightly-colored, attention-getting buttons, stickers or inexpensive tee-shirts for staff to wear that spotlight the new offerings.


• Consider an inexpensive promotion to generate interest and use of the new services.


• Target! Patients with chronic conditions that require ongoing patient education and follow-up care have been shown to benefit from e-Visits, so consider a targeted mailing to those patients. Patients who are "highly connected" such as Blackberry-wielding execs on-the-go and sedentary information technology workers are also excellent prospects for e-Visits.


• Keep it up! It may take a variety of messages and methods over time to get the message to all your patients.

Marketing e-Visits at Trinity Clinic Whitehouse Trinity Clinic Whitehouse rolled out their Medfusion-based Web site in January 2007, which includes encrypted E-visit capabilities. Trinity Clinic Whitehouse calls them "online office visits." Before the service went "live", Office Manager Katrina Taylor created a 2-question survey to both inform patients about the upcoming service and get their opinion regarding price and which medical conditions they felt were appropriate for online office visits. To promote the new service, Katrina also developed a flyer to distribute to patients (above) and a 2-sided "online appointment" reminder pad (at left).