Welcome! Here in the Private Practice blog I hope to increase the flow of ideas and have some give and take when it comes to what works and does not in our offices. There will be patient viewpoints as well as practitioners’ on this site. We want to be as efficient as possible when running our practices but we need to make sure we provide the service that provides the most successful treatments for our patients (or clients, everyone prefers a different name).
We are in the digital age and the internet has created a different type of market. I have been involved in Audiology since the late 80s (and yes I am counting school) and there has always been something challenging to contend with. I was mentored by several audiologists who were disciplined because they wanted to dispense hearing aids, and this was a major challenge for the entire hearing aid industry. I have watched as audiologists wanted to separate themselves from other professions, and how this has effected the industry. I have watched the pendulum swing back and forth when it comes to managed care and this has had an effect.
We will always be facing new challenges, they sometimes are the same things in different packages but at times we are thrown a curve that did not exist 10 years ago. We have to constantly change with the times because the only constant is change. So the Internet changes the playing field. Well, OK, how do we play in the new arena?
One hint is to claim your office website on as many sites (such as Merchant Circle) as possible, some will be free of charge, but some will have a charge associated and you will have to look at your marketing and advertising budget to see if better placement is worth the cost for that particular engine. Some of these sites hook into similar engines such as Google and Yahoo, so try just claiming one or two and see where your website lands in a few weeks. Take little steps so you can accomplish all you need to and don’t bite off more than you can chew.
I have run out of metaphors this week, but give us your thoughts and ideas. If you have run a survey in your office, we are interested in sharing your insights! Send it in and we can publish on our site. The peer review is on-going on the site, and it might spur more of us on to always watch how we are doing our job.
