Why You Need a Robust Patient Acquisition Strategy

Since patient growth is key to long-term success, it is essential for healthcare providers to embrace effective patient acquisition and retention strategies. The implications of an effective strategy in this context extend well beyond the bottom line to the ripple effect created if a provider lacks the patient population needed to keep its doors open.

If this occurs, the impact can be far reaching—from the employees who are at risk of losing their livelihoods to the patients in the community who may face health risks and burdens associated with lack of access to local healthcare services.

When framed in that context, the need for a robust and effective patient acquisition strategy is even more apparent. An important part of such a strategy is the adoption of communication techniques to effectively “engage, inform, and attract current and prospective consumers.”

In a recent report, EY describes how current and maturing digital health technologies “will deliver new ways in which to understand and interact with patients, families and caregivers” and cites “participatory health” as a “profoundly disruptive force for change in health care.”

EY notes that increasingly, healthcare consumers engage in “self-service” by conducting online research to find information about health and treatments.

Equipped with that kind of empowerment and the bounty of online health information available in today’s omnichannel environment, patients have plenty of choices for finding the right healthcare provider. As a result, many consumers are transforming the traditional patient acquisition process by engaging with the web through ISO—aka, “In search of…”

By understanding how prospective patients use digital tools, healthcare providers can integrate this knowledge into strategies that lead to effective patient acquisition.

Download our whitepaper to learn more: Applying the 4 Stages of Patient Acquisition