Do limited cash flow and rising expenses from inflation have your practice feeling stuck in a vicious cycle?
Inflation is defined in economics as a “decrease in the purchasing power of money.”
For your patients, it means making tough everyday decisions. Paying for healthcare becomes harder to swallow when the cost to fill your gas tank or buy groceries has skyrocketed.
For your practice, it means a rise in the everyday costs to just keep your doors open on top of making it harder to get patients to show up. This can be especially frustrating because it feels so out of your control.
So what can you do? Is there any part that is in your control?
To answer this, we first need to understand the root of the problem:
Why Inflation Is Really Impacting Your Patient Volume
The most common problems you’ll hear patients express during like this are:
- Everything is just so much more expensive than it was
- Worrying about a possible recession to follow
- Avoidance – don’t want to face issues that may be expensive or impact their lifestyle (“if I ignore it, it’s not there” mindset)
- Passing blame (“my job doesn’t pay enough” or “it’s my landlord’s fault rent went up and I can’t afford therapy”)
- Justifying cutting back/not taking action with faulty logic (“I already feel a little better I don’t need more appointments)
Many of these feel very real and hard – because they are tough issues! But they are not the ROOT of the problem, it’s only the surface. (besides, you can’t really help with those problems so they aren’t worth getting hung up on)
The real reason inflation makes it harder for you to keep patients coming in is Fear. In times of uncertainty & confusion, people pause and take NO action.
This is not a new psychological fact.
You’ve very likely heard it said “a confused mind does nothing” or in business, “a confused mind never buys”
But there’s actually really good news here!
While you can’t bring gas prices down or help avoid a recession, you CAN create certainty & clarity in your communication to patients so they’re comfortable enough to take action in regards to their health.
Economic swings will come and go, but health is important for a lifetime. If you can help people see this and give them a clear plan of action, they will continue to trust you for care even in hard times.
3 Ways to Keep Your Patient Volume Up by Cutting Through Confusion & Fear Caused By Economic Stress
#1. Communicate MORE Not Less
In economic swings, an incredible amount of communication is needed to get the same results as before.
There are 2 primary ways to boost your communication to patients:
- Use the tools you already have MORE (email marketing, social media, your website… any communication tool you have should be in high gear!)
- Communicate in MORE places you haven’t tried yet (send past patients the same messaging via email AND direct mail, reach new audiences through new advertising such as Google Ads)
#2. Be MORE Empathetic + MORE Confident
In all your messaging, you should talk about the issues your patients face openly to show you understand them. Don’t avoid the elephant in the room! Honesty builds trust.
Listen closely to people’s problems & try to look past the surface of fear to what they really need. You’ll build a lot of trust with patients simply by not ignoring real-world issues and saying out loud what they’re thinking inside.
But ALSO…
Continue to call them to take actions you know are good for their long-term health. It’s what’s genuinely best for them! It’s not your job to be a salesperson, but it is your job to be honest and direct about their health.
Remember above – “uncertainty” causes NO action. Make sure what you’re advising them to do is extremely clear and simple so they don’t freeze up and do nothing.
#3. Add MORE Value for Your Patients
Increasing the value of the services your practice offers is another way to fight inflation’s impact.
Cash pay services can be added to your existing insurance model and increase your financial stability simply by serving your existing patients in new ways. Check out this recent practice owner interview for great ideas on additional services.
The Result Is More Patients & Stability For Your Practice
There’s a common principle in business that says More Outflow = More Inflow. If the “more inflow” you need is customers (patients), the “more outflow” you need is communication & marketing.
When your schedule is full and consistent, it’s much easier to overcome economic swings.
If your clinic is already feeling the impact, it’s not too late to start addressing it!
Keeping your operation as close to 100% as possible will mean faster recovery and less financial loss. This is actually a business school crisis recovery model that we helped many practices use to stay afloat and recover quickly after COVID.
Here’s a quick summary:
 This strategy focuses on the operational and financial recovery of a business from an emergency. The concept is simple: make a plan that keeps your clinic running at as high a percentage as possible especially in regards to 1) delivering your service (treating patients) and 2) marketing your service (keep new patients aware and coming in). Those practices which retract considerably their marketing efforts or ability to treat during an emergency will take more time to get back up to 100% and experience SIGNIFICANTLY longer financial pain. We saw many great examples of this during COVID as practices that leaned into communication and marketing recovered faster and some even grew bigger. Here are some examples: Physioworks Grows Beyond Pre-Pandemic Volume in just 7 months 1-location clinic in Texas achieves “Best Year Ever” in 2020 (you can get the full training here, it’s great for any practice owner to know!) |
…But Don’t Wait! NOT Acting Quickly Will Hurt Long-term
“I don’t know, maybe some clinics can but I can’t afford anything right now…”
“I’ll just wait it out, I don’t want to invest in the wrong thing…”
“I know I need patients but with reimbursements getting cut I have to market less…”
“I’ve gotten this far without marketing, why suddenly now?
It’s natural to resort to a more cautious approach when financial problems are a threat. After all, you want to ensure your family and staff are taken care of!
But cutting back things that contribute to patient volume or even just waiting it out are reactions based in fear. And the reality is waiting to address problems leads to a longer period of financial loss. Many of your competitors are probably scaling back their efforts because again, it’s natural.
Please don’t be that practice owner.
Take action quickly, communicate clearly & often, and you’ll be ahead of the curve.
Patient Volume Is The Best Way To Reduce Inflation’s Impact On Your Practice
And the best way to keep patients coming in economic swings is to cut through the fear & noise by communicating clearly, confidently, and more often than in normal times.
Decide 3 ways right now you can communicate with patients & potential patients MORE this month and write them down. Just like your patients, waiting or taking no action could prolong your pain.
Bonus Resources To Help Address Economic & Financial Swings In Your Practice:
- Why I Added Cash Pay & Subscription Services
- The Business Recovery Curve Strategy for Practices
- Overcoming Medicare Cuts to Physical Therapy
- Ways to handle Medicare Reimbursement Cuts [PDF]