• Integrate not only your website, but also embrace social media and blogging to communicate with you patients and followers
• Taking the office digital increases revenue by bringing in three to four new patients per week simply because they visited my website
One of the fascinating parts about my practice is that I have seamlessly integrated social media to help my patients prevent long-term damage to muscles, bones and other body parts, which can result in chronic pain. Patients and anyone who is interested can read blogs, watch YouTube shows and follow me on my Facebook and Twitter pages to receive constant reminders, reinforcements and tips on how to remain active while combating chronic pain — not an easy feat by any means. Not many doctors use this platform quite like I do. I use social media to get my advice and messages across to my patients, but it also has a broader reach than just my practice.
Harnessing the power of the internet, including the rapidly emerging segment know as social networking, I have been able to take my message — educating patients on natural, non-narcotic pain remedies across the nation and around the world. Patients are now coming to me saying that an article with thoroughly researched medical information helped not only them but also say the patient's mother in Boston or a friend in a another state. Moreover, I have had scores of interviews on radio, television and print media most of which were made possible through my online website, which is a virtual pain resource center, my blog and through extensive social networking with patients, reporters and other healthcare providers.
Website & Blog
My website and blog is a comprehensive one-stop destination discussing responsible and non-invasive treatment options for patients suffering from ailments resulting in chronic pain, arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, orthopedic injuries and more. On my website patients can request an appointment in my office, learn general information about their pain condition, learn about me and my practice approach as a physician, follow my many interviews in radio, television and print media, listen to podcasts on topics such as knee pain, find wellness information right down to healthy recipes and purchase reading material relative to their pain condition from a link on my website to amazon.com.
The Blog is a section of my website where I am frequently updating relevant information, talking about everything from current topics in clinical practice from addiction to exercise and current events as they relate to medicine. Some recent examples include Steve Jobs' decision to delay conventional medical treatment for nine months following his diagnosis with a rare form of pancreatic cancer and the murder trial of Dr. Conrad Murray who stands accused of killing his patient and friend, Michael Jackson with an elaborate anesthesia machine in the King of Pop's own bedroom.
My foray into the online world provides me with a special privilege and a duty as I take this opportunity to both protect my patients and all consumers by seeking to restore responsible medicine to the online venue by way of dispelling folktales in medical care and fallacies in certain home remedies. As a physician, I have the knowledge to keep my patients safe and I embrace this stewardship role with utmost attention because there is, I feel, obligation to provide responsible medical information online. My patients and the global community deserve nothing less. So in much the way that we, as parents, protect our children by monitoring the internet, I consider myself to be my patient's "medical parent" online, trying to provide my patients with unbiased clinical information that is enriching.
Social Media
There's so much more to Facebook and Twitter than the size of your Facebook (friend list). Today Facebook and Twitter are utilized to provide patient education to your current clients, implement changes within your practice such as the hiring of a new staff member or providing a discount for a new patient referral. This can translate into a sense of community about one's medical practice with patients sharing information as well about procedures, expectations and events. Likewise if a provider within your group has recently joined your practice or obtained a new certification or is lecturing at a local health event, this information can be disseminated easily through social media such as Linked In which also provides an extensive professional network that can be instrumental in obtaining new practice opportunities. In my practice I use social media to announce upcoming conferences, support groups, medical current events, pharmaceutical advancements and more. My Facebook page links patients to other like-minded health professions who I have vetted as being appropriate for my patient and website viewer base.
Increased patient discourse leads to better treatment outcomes. Since expanding my presence to the world wide web, I have found patient encounters to be far more collaborative and productive as patients step up to take a greater role in their treatment. My website and blog is a convenient, on demand tool for the patient to learn — in the restful comfort of their own home — about her diagnosis or pain condition, secure treatment information that is oftentimes explained in greater depth than an office appointment provides for and learn about alternative or more likely complimentary medicine treatments.
In the milieu of the busy clinic calendars, I am frequently left to my best guess when determining the appropriateness of broaching a mainstream treatment option or an alternative approach versus a complementary medicine approach to reducing a reliance on pain medications. However, since building this elaborate online presence, I have created a safe haven online where my patients can go — along with anyone else in the world — to enhance patient education and do so on their own timetable. Moreover, patients feel a greater unifying bond with me, as their physician and healer, once they have seen my extensive online presence and become a "follower" on Facebook or sign up for my quarterly health and wellness newsletters.
At this point I almost become more of the "pain coach" and less of the paternalistic physician dictating a treatment course, now guiding the patient from the side. This enhances the quality of the patient-physician relationship and leads to a more frank degree of openness and discourse by the patient, who now feels more in control over something which frankly very few physicians can ever harness a manageable grip on: chronic pain, the nemesis of modern medicine.
Now, patients are coming to me, after visiting my website and blog, reading my news articles or listening to me on the radio with their own questions as to treatment options, many of which are alternative or complementary and do not involve opioid or habit-forming medication. In the end, it is the patient who benefits from this the most as I am enabled to deliver a higher level of very customized care to the patient. Simultaneously the patients are feeling empowered as if they are riding in the driver's seat for once on the arduous path down the murky pathways of pain management.
Embracing the Internet reaps respective practice rewards. Harnessing the full power of the internet to communicate with my current patients, prospective patients and other consumers has led to the addition of three to four new patients per week in my practice. These are mostly all patients who otherwise would not have been referred or otherwise found their way to my practice waiting room. In these harrowing economic times, including an acceleration in patient attrition as patients become unemployed, lose their health insurance or simply don't make appointments in the first three months of the year because patient medical visits are not covered by high-deductible plans, it is now more important than ever for physicians to generate new patients in order to keep their practice open and sustainable.
As a young physician who is in his seventh year out of residency, it is personally empowering to me to know that I have a steady stream of new patient clientele coming into my practice that is predicated upon my own work established on the world wide web. The leading topic searched on the Internet involves health and my generation is likely to Google their doctor before they make an appointment, where they are certain to find me.
Moshe M. Lewis, MD, is a pain management physician practicing at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. His website is http://www.thejetmd.com.
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• Taking the office digital increases revenue by bringing in three to four new patients per week simply because they visited my website
One of the fascinating parts about my practice is that I have seamlessly integrated social media to help my patients prevent long-term damage to muscles, bones and other body parts, which can result in chronic pain. Patients and anyone who is interested can read blogs, watch YouTube shows and follow me on my Facebook and Twitter pages to receive constant reminders, reinforcements and tips on how to remain active while combating chronic pain — not an easy feat by any means. Not many doctors use this platform quite like I do. I use social media to get my advice and messages across to my patients, but it also has a broader reach than just my practice.
Harnessing the power of the internet, including the rapidly emerging segment know as social networking, I have been able to take my message — educating patients on natural, non-narcotic pain remedies across the nation and around the world. Patients are now coming to me saying that an article with thoroughly researched medical information helped not only them but also say the patient's mother in Boston or a friend in a another state. Moreover, I have had scores of interviews on radio, television and print media most of which were made possible through my online website, which is a virtual pain resource center, my blog and through extensive social networking with patients, reporters and other healthcare providers.
Website & Blog
My website and blog is a comprehensive one-stop destination discussing responsible and non-invasive treatment options for patients suffering from ailments resulting in chronic pain, arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, orthopedic injuries and more. On my website patients can request an appointment in my office, learn general information about their pain condition, learn about me and my practice approach as a physician, follow my many interviews in radio, television and print media, listen to podcasts on topics such as knee pain, find wellness information right down to healthy recipes and purchase reading material relative to their pain condition from a link on my website to amazon.com.
The Blog is a section of my website where I am frequently updating relevant information, talking about everything from current topics in clinical practice from addiction to exercise and current events as they relate to medicine. Some recent examples include Steve Jobs' decision to delay conventional medical treatment for nine months following his diagnosis with a rare form of pancreatic cancer and the murder trial of Dr. Conrad Murray who stands accused of killing his patient and friend, Michael Jackson with an elaborate anesthesia machine in the King of Pop's own bedroom.
My foray into the online world provides me with a special privilege and a duty as I take this opportunity to both protect my patients and all consumers by seeking to restore responsible medicine to the online venue by way of dispelling folktales in medical care and fallacies in certain home remedies. As a physician, I have the knowledge to keep my patients safe and I embrace this stewardship role with utmost attention because there is, I feel, obligation to provide responsible medical information online. My patients and the global community deserve nothing less. So in much the way that we, as parents, protect our children by monitoring the internet, I consider myself to be my patient's "medical parent" online, trying to provide my patients with unbiased clinical information that is enriching.
Social Media
There's so much more to Facebook and Twitter than the size of your Facebook (friend list). Today Facebook and Twitter are utilized to provide patient education to your current clients, implement changes within your practice such as the hiring of a new staff member or providing a discount for a new patient referral. This can translate into a sense of community about one's medical practice with patients sharing information as well about procedures, expectations and events. Likewise if a provider within your group has recently joined your practice or obtained a new certification or is lecturing at a local health event, this information can be disseminated easily through social media such as Linked In which also provides an extensive professional network that can be instrumental in obtaining new practice opportunities. In my practice I use social media to announce upcoming conferences, support groups, medical current events, pharmaceutical advancements and more. My Facebook page links patients to other like-minded health professions who I have vetted as being appropriate for my patient and website viewer base.
Increased patient discourse leads to better treatment outcomes. Since expanding my presence to the world wide web, I have found patient encounters to be far more collaborative and productive as patients step up to take a greater role in their treatment. My website and blog is a convenient, on demand tool for the patient to learn — in the restful comfort of their own home — about her diagnosis or pain condition, secure treatment information that is oftentimes explained in greater depth than an office appointment provides for and learn about alternative or more likely complimentary medicine treatments.
In the milieu of the busy clinic calendars, I am frequently left to my best guess when determining the appropriateness of broaching a mainstream treatment option or an alternative approach versus a complementary medicine approach to reducing a reliance on pain medications. However, since building this elaborate online presence, I have created a safe haven online where my patients can go — along with anyone else in the world — to enhance patient education and do so on their own timetable. Moreover, patients feel a greater unifying bond with me, as their physician and healer, once they have seen my extensive online presence and become a "follower" on Facebook or sign up for my quarterly health and wellness newsletters.
At this point I almost become more of the "pain coach" and less of the paternalistic physician dictating a treatment course, now guiding the patient from the side. This enhances the quality of the patient-physician relationship and leads to a more frank degree of openness and discourse by the patient, who now feels more in control over something which frankly very few physicians can ever harness a manageable grip on: chronic pain, the nemesis of modern medicine.
Now, patients are coming to me, after visiting my website and blog, reading my news articles or listening to me on the radio with their own questions as to treatment options, many of which are alternative or complementary and do not involve opioid or habit-forming medication. In the end, it is the patient who benefits from this the most as I am enabled to deliver a higher level of very customized care to the patient. Simultaneously the patients are feeling empowered as if they are riding in the driver's seat for once on the arduous path down the murky pathways of pain management.
Embracing the Internet reaps respective practice rewards. Harnessing the full power of the internet to communicate with my current patients, prospective patients and other consumers has led to the addition of three to four new patients per week in my practice. These are mostly all patients who otherwise would not have been referred or otherwise found their way to my practice waiting room. In these harrowing economic times, including an acceleration in patient attrition as patients become unemployed, lose their health insurance or simply don't make appointments in the first three months of the year because patient medical visits are not covered by high-deductible plans, it is now more important than ever for physicians to generate new patients in order to keep their practice open and sustainable.
As a young physician who is in his seventh year out of residency, it is personally empowering to me to know that I have a steady stream of new patient clientele coming into my practice that is predicated upon my own work established on the world wide web. The leading topic searched on the Internet involves health and my generation is likely to Google their doctor before they make an appointment, where they are certain to find me.
Moshe M. Lewis, MD, is a pain management physician practicing at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. His website is http://www.thejetmd.com.
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