Gaining a competitive advantage in healthcare: Seven simple tips to help medical practices succeed

Even as the number of hospital- and corporate-owned medical practices continues to grow, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are about 213,000 private medical practices nationwide. Depending on your location, specialty, payer mix, and the presence of any retail clinics in your area, owning a medical practice in today’s healthcare consumer-centric marketplace has its challenges. Gaining competitive advantage in healthcare comes down to strategic management.

How do you know whether your medical practice might be at a competitive disadvantage? Following are some questions to consider. 

• Are your quality metrics and outcomes below average?
• Do outdated technology and processes hold you back and fuel patient frustration?
• Do you continually face payer audits, denials, and recoupments?
• Do you have difficulty recruiting and retaining high quality staff?
• Do you struggle to meet financial benchmarks and increase profit margins?
• Does your medical practice have a poor online reputation and/or rank low in search results for your specialty or location?
• Has your patient volume slowly decreased increased over time?

If the answers to any of these questions is ‘yes,’ it might be time to reconsider your clinical and operational strategies. Remember: Strategic management is all about gaining and maintaining competitive advantage. Identifying creative ways to gain a competitive advantage in healthcare can go a long way in terms of attracting and retaining patients, navigating times of financial uncertainty, and promoting financial sustainability. Here are seven simple strategies to try.

1. Continuously adapt to patient expectations. Providing an exceptional, retail-like experience can easily set you apartment and help you gain competitive advantage in healthcare. This experience includes easy online appointment scheduling, streamlined check-in/check-out processes, 24/7 access to communication (e.g., secure messaging, chats, and patient portals), quick responses to inquiries, empathic billing support, and automated/personalized patient billing. It also includes price transparency—i.e., being able to offer cost estimates and pricing tools and ensure staff are trained to discuss financial responsibility. Anything you can do to embrace new patient payment trends is helpful. 
   
   
2. Evolve with market dynamics. For example, now might be the right time to join an Independent Practice Association, Management Services Organization, or Accountable Care Organization for administrative and clinical support while still maintaining independence. When making this leap, you could gain a competitive advantage in healthcare through better payer contracts, lower prices on supplies, and access to value-based payment models, referral networks, shared services (e.g., billing and coding support, compliance guidance, credentialing, EHR integration and data analytics), and more.
   
   
3. Adopt telehealth and digital care models. Consumers are adopting mobile apps, wearables, and telehealth tools to manage health. Medical practices that leverage this trend to their advantage can integrate remote monitoring and digital check-ins, offer telehealth and virtual visits, and use EHRs that allow patients to easily access their records and test results.
   
   
4. Invest in marketing the medical practice. Build a strong online reputation through Google, Healthgrades, Yelp, and social media by monitoring and responding to reviews. Another helpful strategy to gain a competitive advantage in healthcare? Encourage satisfied patients to leave feedback. Also ensure your website is optimized for search engines and that website content highlights what sets your medical practice apart from others. For example, this might be location, ease of parking, bilingual staff, handicap accessibility, quality measure performance, and more).
   
   
5. Ensure clinical excellence. In terms of gaining a competitive advantage in healthcare, this one goes without saying. If patients don’t receive high quality clinical care, they probably won’t remain loyal. It’s also becoming increasingly important to provide preventive and holistic care that addresses social determinants of health and includes personalized treatment plans, integrative care, and mental health support. What can you do to improve the quality and comprehensiveness of the care you provide?
   
   
6. Increase access. Same-day or walk-in appointments can be a game changer, as are extended hours during the week and/or weekend hours. 
   
   
7. Invest in ongoing staff development and training. High-quality, culturally competent staff who promote teamwork, communication, and innovation can easily give you a competitive advantage. A positive atmosphere in which staff are protected from burnout can make patients feel valued and understood and promote a competitive advantage in healthcare. 

Setting your medical practice apart from the rest

Gaining a competitive advantage in healthcare is largely about knowing your customers and what they want—and then doing your best to provide it. In healthcare, this means increasingly catering to a retail like experience on both the clinical side as well as the financial side. Ultimately, strategic management is all about gaining and maintaining competitive advantage. Learn how Inbox Health can help you improve the patient financial experience and gain the competitive advantage in healthcare you need to be successful. Contact Inbox Health today. 

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