Physician Relations
Historically, most hospitals have had a physician
relations program. In most cases, it operated
either within the marketing department, the medical staff office, or reported
directly to the CEO. The Physician
Liaison had the responsibility for maintaining contact with the members of the
medical staff and their office employees. Few
programs enabled the Liaison to produce measurable results, and physician practices had few, if any, complex
needs or issues.
Times changed.
In the 1990s, the emphasis of hospitals shifted to the primary care gatekeeper, and
most of the available financial resources were shifted to acquiring physician
practices or recruiting new primary care physicians to the service area.
Many hospitals terminated their physician liaison programs as a result of
“accountability mentality”. The
programs produced few measurable benefits and were, therefore, expendable.
The importance of maintaining strong relationships with physicians has not gone
away, however, and may actually be more important than ever.
As
hospitals have moved away from the affiliated physician model, where physicians
are employed by the hospital, they needed a way to maintain a strong
relationship with their medical staff. Physician relations, and physician
liaisons, became an important issue again. Hospitals had to find a way to
maintain high physician satisfaction levels, and ultimately, to ensure that
their hospital volumes increased, or at least were protected against other
hospitals in the area. By 2004, 32% of hospital CEOs ranked
hospital/physician relations in their top three concerns.
According to a national study conducted by
Merritt, Hawkins, and Associates in
2004, the average specialist generates $1,915,524
in revenue for a hospital every year.
Primary care physicians generate an average of $1,596,852 each year. Any
hospital that can maintain their current admission bases while increasing the
volumes of just a few key physicians can realize significant improvements to
their revenue.
Effective physician relations programs seek to not only measure physicians'
satisfaction with the hospital, but they actively work to improve
relations. An effective physician liaison serves as the community physicians' link
to the hospital and its resources. At the same time, the physicians are an
important resource to the hospital- and not just for the admissions they bring
to the hospital. Physicians are an important customer of the
hospital. As such, they are in constant contact with hospital staff and
departments, and can provide important feedback to the liaison regarding the
level of service being provided to them, and ultimately the patients.
Physicians can also serve as a sounding board for new initiatives or programs
that the hospital is considering.
To efficiently provide all of these services, a liaison must be well
organized and must have access to data. Med-Track was designed from day
one with these goals in mind. The system assembles important data
regarding physicians, their practices, their hospital volumes, their financial
impact on the hospital, and their thoughts and ideas regarding the hospital's
performance. By combining this data, the physician liaison can generate
outcomes reports, monitor their relationships with physicians, and
identify new opportunities.
The primary force behind Med-Track is
The
Horizon Group, a healthcare consulting firm based in Virginia Beach,
Virginia. For the past 12 years, management consultants from The Horizon
Group have assisted hospitals and physicians throughout the country. Many
of their projects have been to develop hospital/ physician relations
departments, as well as conducting medical staff development plans.
The Horizon Group has an unparalleled understanding of the dynamics in the
relationship between physicians and organizations, such as hospitals. This
expertise has been instrumental in the development of Med-Track™. It may
also be able to help your organization.
If you are interested in the services available from The Horizon Group, you may contact
them at
clientservices@thehorizongroup.com.
Physician Liaison and Relations Information from The Horizon Group:
Developing
a Successful Physician Relations Program
Revisiting
Physician Relationships
Liaison
Program Overview
"Can
Oil and Water Ever Mix? Strategies for Developing and Maintaining Effective
Hospital-Physician Relationships"- by Gregory Mertz SPECTRUM
January/February 2005
Other physician liaison program resources:
"CEO's Guide to Winning
Physician Relations"- by Paula Dewitt, for HealthLeaders
News July 15, 2005
"CRM: From Evolution to
Revolution"- by John Hallick, for SPECTRUM, July/August 2005
"Four Reasons You Need a Hospital Sales Force"- by Preston Gee, for HealthLeaders
News February 4, 2005
"Physician marketing: Not Overlooking the Obvious" - by Daniel
Fell, for HealthLeaders.com, October 17, 2001
"Can Hospital
Advertising Dollars be Better Spent?" - by Anthony Cirillo, for HealthLeaders
News, June 2, 2004
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