Healthcare Practice Marketing

3 Considerations Before Opening a Ketamine Clinic in Georgia

November 24, 2021 | Little Health Law

pills-2-300x225 Ketamine is a substance growing in popularity as a treatment for, among other things, depression and pain management. Ketamine clinics are quickly increasing in popularity. Why Ketamine-Assisted Therapy Has Gone Mainstream, Forbes (Oct. 18, 2021). Our healthcare and business law firm assists clients in understanding the rules and requirements around opening and operating Ketamine clinics, understanding the unique issues that face innovative clinics where no clear guidance or oversight has yet been established. With this post, Little Health Law intends to present three considerations for a provider thinking about opening a Ketamine clinic in Georgia. If you have questions regarding this blog post, opening a Ketamine clinic, or operating your existing Ketamine clinic, you may contact us at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@littlehealthlaw.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.littlehealthlaw.com.

A Viable Solution For Doctors and Patients to the Third-Party Payer Mess: Concierge Medicine

June 2, 2013 | Little Health Law

The concierge practice of medicine is the wave of the future. This is very good news for the American consumer and tax payer.

As the price tag for Medicare has increased, so has the pressure on federal lawmakers to do something to avoid the looming fiscal disaster that attends rising health care costs. Since the U.S. Taxpayer demands that Medicare costs somehow be contained while, ironically, the U.S. Voter (same person, different hat) views Medicare as a sacrosanct entitlement to consume health care, the lawmaker “solution” has thus far focused the cost-cutting pressure on the supply side of health care, including cutting physician reimbursement. See, e.g. The Plea for Repeal of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate, May 4, 2013 post, this Blog. The trend of private insurers and other non-government payers is to follow what Medicare does (at least with respect to setting physician reimbursement rates and billing rules). An unintended consequence of the downward pressure on physician reimbursement together with modern health care’s increasing red tape/regulation and associated costs and headaches has been to drive primary care physicians out of private practice altogether. They are fed up. Many doctors have found (or are looking for) hospital employment. Others have retired. This trend has been referred to as the “silent exodus” of physicians and threatens to profoundly impact patient access care in a negative way. See National Survey Points to a “Silent Exodus” of Physicians, Merritt Hawkins, September 24, 2012.

Thankfully, some physicians are discovering that the concierge practice of medicine can be a smart, rewarding way to own and operate a private medical practice as a business that, rather than suffering the severe strains of the third-party-payer model, is free to actually focus on practicing medicine. For many doctors, the concierge medical practice model is returning private practice to its correct state — a real practice of medicine, medical judgment and care that is patient focused and free from the intrusion into the business of rendering care that a commercial or governmental third-party payer necessarily creates.
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Marketing Tips For Medical Practitioners

December 12, 2012 | Little Health Law

Physicians often feel that marketing or branding their medical practice is unnecessary. Perhaps they think that by being a doctor they have a built in identity or they have plenty of patients. This does not even take into consideration the anticipated influx of new patients being thrust into the patient pool by Congress over the next few years.

In reality, physicians who own their own practices see themselves as someone who was “called” to be a doctor. Their medical practice is their career or profession but they rarely think of it as a “business.” The fact is that basic marketing principles that apply to other businesses also apply to the healthcare practice owners.

Medical professionals who own their own practice sometimes think that marketing or advertising is inappropriate or even unethical. This is especially true for physicians who began their medical practice before advertising was as prevalent as it is today. The fact is that marketing and branding a medical practice can do more than generating more revenue and patients. It can help patients who are best suited to your practice, as well as other physicians wanting to make a referral, identify with you.

Most physicians have had no formal business education, training or experience in running a business before opening their first practice. Other than perhaps the new generation of recent graduates from medical school who are entering practice, most physicians are unfamiliar with how to make their practice more noticeable through social media and making their website more relevant to search engines.

Social media can create interest in your practice and allow you to interact with existing or potential patients. It can also connect you with other physicians seeking to make a referral. LinkedIn is a social media tool that can boost your name recognition and your practice’s online image. Facebook can be an interesting place for patients to obtain reliable information or supply input about your practice. YouTube can provide you with a great opportunity to provide a virtual tour of your office and allowing patients to see pictures of you and your staff. Twitter can provide you with information about your followers and give you a venue to provide breaking news about your practice.

Maintaining a professional and informative website can also be an important tool in marketing your practice, allowing new patients to find you on the web and providing information to current patients. many physicians also have blogs, where they provide information on current issues in the healthcare world.

Marketing your medical practice is really no different than marketing any other small business or firm. The same proven strategies that work in other industries apply and are successful in the healthcare industry.
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