Are you struggling with netting out-of-network patients? Today, I’m highlighting the best kept secret from a physical therapy entrepreneur and business coach, Patrick A. Toy, DPT, PT. He gave me permission to share with you one of the top trade secrets to turn out-of-network patients into business opportunities.
About Patrick A. Toy, DPT, PT
Dr. Toy believes that physical therapy is a collaborative business and consults with physical therapists around the country to help them create their own businesses by showing them how to establish efficient systems and processes to maximize their profits in order to provide their patients with the absolute best care possible.
His extensive training has reportedly saved his patients and therapists thousands of dollars in healthcare-related expenses. He also believes that as a Physical Therapist, he can connect to the communities he belongs to and strengthen them from within. From his grandparent’s teachings, he believes that his active involvement in helping the community on a deeper level will have a systemic effect and create an exceptional experience for those who entrust their health and wealth in his hands.
Healthcare Branding Trade Secret for Gaining Out-of Network Patients
The physical therapist and healthcare business coach I’m referencing focuses on making patients feel that he’s happy to help them along their journey, not just tell them he is. If he is asked by a patient if he takes their insurance, even if he knows he doesn’t take it, he asks for their insurance information and tells them he will check with someone right away for them.
He then calls the insurance company and asks what the patient’s in and out-of-network (OON) benefits are. He reports their benefits and visit maxes back to the patient along with the cost of working with him. He may even go into why in and out of network pricing is different. If they ask him if he is in network, he answers honestly; some of them are not in network. He tells them their insurance will cover OON at (insert price here), or I can offer you a special rate at (insert price here).
This tactic doesn’t work on every patient, but he has other methods in his toolkit that he would be happy to share with you during a consult. He says the key is to make the answer simple because people can sense uneasiness. Don’t look for validation in others, whether that is your patients, friends, or competitors. Just do what is right by you and the patient and they will be grateful for your help. I can vouch for the fact that the patients he has lost because they were out of network have recommended friends because of the impression he made. His advice is to make a good impression, don’t underestimate how far this will take you.
How Does Marketing Help?
Marketing helps you to project information that aligns with both your personal and business brand, and digital marketing aims to deliver content that is relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach when they’re trying to reach you. Your website and digital presence need a plan of care to achieve this goal, just as a patient or client of yours needs one. I’ll be releasing an article later this month addressing how to create an accurate one.
Conclusion
Create a brand, or purpose, that you align with, and never underestimate going the extra mile! This is just one of the many tidbits my healthcare business coach shared with me over the years, so if you’d like to learn more ways to increase your revenue besides the ones I listed above, stay tuned! I am releasing another article next month on how to increase your revenue for 2023. Let me know if you would like me to put you in contact with my healthcare business coach. He focuses on revenue retention methods that pair well with my services.
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