What exactly is a physician liaison, and how do they factor into a marketing plan for your practice? A physician liaison, or physician relations manager, is a professional dedicated to representing a physician or specialized medical/surgical group in an effort to establish and strengthen the relationship between potential referring physicians and hospitals. By maintaining an open line of communication with physicians and performing diligent outreach, physician liaisons maintain and grow the patient referral base for those they represent.
The duties of a physician liaison marketing representative are varied, and may include:
- Introducing physician specialist groups to new physicians who may have a strong need to refer out for specialty services. Example: a podiatrist may benefit greatly from a referral relationship with an urgent care facility that sees a high volume of ankle sprains & breaks.
- Bringing any issues or concerns that referring physicians may have back to the the client in order to improve the continuum of care for the physicians’ patients.
- Informing physicians of new technologies and specialty services offered by the client they represent that will help physicians better serve their patients.
- Educating physicians as to why and for what reasons they should be referring out to the client they represent.
- Setting up ‘lunch & learns’ to give the client the opportunity for face time with potential referral sources, developing rapport and credibility
- Recontacting old referral sources that have ‘dried up’, reinvigorating past referral relationships and identifying the causes for lost referrals
- Mitigating lost referrals by way of staying “top of mind” through strategic outreach campaigns
Physician liaison marketing is a critical aspect of marketing new and existing practices. Time-strapped physicians simply don’t have the availability to network and develop referral relationships with nearby family doctors, other specialists, schools & lawyers. More often than not, developing those crucial connections is the missing link to creating a robust presence in your target market- and yet, it’s a step most physicians overlook or feel they can’t entrust to an employee.
Challenges to Implementing Your Own Physician Liaison Marketing Program
What prevents a physician from implementing a physician liaison marketing campaign? Several factors contribute, such as:
- Difficulty in finding qualified individuals to represent the practice
- Difficulty in managing field representatives that rarely are in office (in fact, SHOULDN’T be in office, as that means they’re not
accomplishing the goal of being your ‘face’ to other physicians) - Lack of understanding of what a true physician liaison marketing campaign entails
- Desire to keep overhead low, and simply not have another employee to manage
Physician Referral Marketing offers physician liaison marketing without the hassles of employing a physician liaison at your practice. We set up campaigns for you, monitor your liaison representative, and provide regular reporting at our meetings with you to ensure that you are constantly in the loop on how your liaison is performing in the field.
“Our physicians love the peace of mind they have in knowing that their physician liaison is being monitored and held accountable for their daily activity to grow the practice” says PRM Executive Director Laura Mikulski.”Our physician liaisons report to us daily, and we hold weekly recap meetings with the physician & practice to keep them appraised of the ongoing efforts and headway we make.”
Why Choose a PRM Physician Liaison?
PRM employs physician liaisons from a variety of backgrounds, including physician recruiters, pharmaceutical sales reps, medical device sales reps, & healthcare marketers. All physician liaisons undergo a thorough screening process, with only the best candidates being selected to represent our clients. Our physician liaisons all complete a comprehensive training program to enhance the skills they already have, as well as attend mandatory bi-monthly group skill building sessions at lead by the staff at our headquarters in Michigan. Additionally, our physician liaisons have the benefit of the contacts they’ve brought into our group, as well as our extensive contact database and online materials to ensure their success driving referrals to your practice.
When it comes to tracking and managing our physician liaisons, we developed a solution that allows us to know exactly where and what our representatives are doing across the nation. PRM utilizes advanced technology to track our physician liaisons during their daily outreach efforts- the same technology that is used to trace 911 calls. We’re able to set parameters on where your liaison goes throughout the day, when they’re “clocked in” on the road, and how frequently they report. Additionally, we’re able to check on them real-time from our headquarters by ‘pinging’ their phone; we know the geo-coordinates of our physician liaisons whenever they’re scheduled to work. Our system keeps our reps accountable, effective, and efficient- everything you expect from a liaison representing your practice.
PRM Physician Liaison Benefits at a Glance
- No staff employee overhead
- No remote management issues
- Vetted individuals to represent your practice
- Advanced value proposition materials distributed and explained
- Networking and “face time” without leaving your office
- Advantage of PRM’s national contact database
- PRM committment to ongoing excellence through liaison training
- Dedicated representatives available
- Comparatively low price
- Monthly recap meetings with your Account Manager
- Dedicated & Shared reps available
If you want dramatic increases in referrals from other doctors and healthcare groups without the hassle of overhead and daily management, our physician liaison marketing representatives are your absolute BEST choice!