The Complete Guide to Physician Relations: Strategies for the Accountable Care Era

The Complete Guide to Physician Relationships

Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA

What Physicians Want
Research-based insights into the best physician communications strategies

In the wake of healthcare reform and a growing emphasis on accountable care, healthcare organizations are looking for ways to align more closely with physicians. Given the highly competitive physician recruiting and referral market, having an effective physician communication strategy has never been more vital.

Based on extensive research and an in-depth survey of nearly 200 physicians, The Complete Guide to Physician Relationships outlines exactly what information physicians want and how they want to receive it from healthcare leaders, peers, marketing executives, and physician relations representatives. Get the critical data that you need to succeed with your physician relations, referral, and communication efforts.

Get powerful, researched strategies and  insight to:

• Communicate the information physicians want in the manner they want to receive it
• Engage physicians in quality and patient satisfaction improvement efforts
• Determine the most effective way to promote services
• Strengthen your relationship with specialists, primary care doctors, and new recruits
• Improve the effectiveness of physician sales

Take a look at the table of contentsIntroduction
Chapter 1: What Do Physicians Want to Hear from Leadership?

• Medical staff support
• Beyond doing, communicating
• Business models
• Real involvement
• Summary

Chapter 2: How Does Your Hospital Compete?

• Conversations about cost, technology
• Patient satisfaction
• Recruitment and retention
• Understand first
• Aligning for the future
• Summary

Chapter 3: ACOs, PHOs: Industry Change and Physicians’ Priorities in the Relationship

• ACO aware
• Shared savings and quality incentives
• Physician performance measurement
• Summary

Chapter 4: What Do Physicians Want to Hear from Their Peers?

• Who gets picked?
• Demonstrating quality in a peer-to-peer setting
• Consistent communication
• Making it easy for patients
• Tangled twine of priorities
• Summary

Chapter 5: Do Physicians on the Medical Staff Know Each Other?

• Knowing and referring
• Ease of referral
• Elements that impact referral decisions
• Summary

Chapter 6: Communication When a Referral Is Sent

• Care delivery post-discharge
• Managing expectations
• Messages show value
• Summary

Chapter 7: What Do Physicians Want to Hear from Marketing?

• How do physicians like to receive marketing information?
• What this means for you
• Opportunity for action
• Summary

Chapter 8: Promoting Services

• Managing our “we know best” attitude
• Active support of physician-to-physician connections
• Social media and web innovations
• Summary

Chapter 9: Supporting Specialists

• Talk is not cheap
• Avoid only one option
• Education beyond CME
• Summary

Chapter 10: What Do Physicians Want to Hear from Physicians Relations?

• Measuring the value
• Resource role
• Managing concerns
• Helping them grow their practice
• Leveraging education
• On-boarding
• What’s happening at the hospital
• Summary

Chapter 11: Physician Relations Attributes That Matter

• The relationship is about physicians
• Personal development for this role
• What’s in it for me
• Managing internal perception
• Summary

Chapter 12: Physician Relations’ Voice

• Expanding the role
• Gather data, use data, show your impact with data
• Listen to differentiate
• Knowledge is an obligation
• Internal coordination, collaboration, integration
• Summary

Appendix

Who will benefit from this book?

• VPs of advertising
• VPs of marketing
• VPs of communications
• VPs of public relations
• Chief marketing officers
• Advertising directors
• Directors of marketing
• Directors of communications
• Marketing managers
• Advertising managers
• Chief medical officers
• CEOs
• CNOs
• COOs
• Medical staff coordinators
• Practice administrators
• Physicians
• Physician relations representatives

Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA
Principal, Barlow/McCarthy, Hudson, WI
Barlowhas spent herentire professional career in healthcare, and she is a well-known and -regarded expert in physician relations training. For the past 15 years, she's had the opportunity to use her knowledge from clinical and business development to support clients in physician relations—retention and sales, physician recruitment, and medical staff development. Her passion is growth strategy and working with teams to enhance medical staff relationships and referrals.