So a lot of Podiatrists are excited to be able to see some patients via telemedicine during COVID or the Coronavirus shutdown. It’s an easy way to generate some revenue for your Podiatry practice while it is shutdown. All you have to do is have the patient dial into you and then discuss their issue. I have covered the basics of billing Telemedicine before:
But the real key and lifeblood of most Podiatry practice is new patients, and the question is how does a Podiatry practice obtain new patients for telemedicine. And the key is there are a couple of ways this can be done to obtain patients for telemedicine for Podiatrists during COVID:
1. Advertise this on your website. Right now your website is the only way for you to obtain patients realistically. On the front page of your website the first thing patients should see is that the doctors are available for telemedicine consults. Beneath that should be an easy way to set it up, whether it is to call or make an appointment on the actual website. This should be simple to do and include some conditions the Podiatrist can treat via telemedicine such as Plantar Fasciitis, or flatfeet, etc.
2. Let your physician referrals know that you are able to see patients via telemedicine. Most likely some of the doctors that refer to you are your friends. Listen, all these doctors know that it is hard for everybody. Let these people know that you are seeing patients now via telemedicine. Whether send them an email, a text or a phone call, make sure your referrals know about it.
3. Send out a generic press release with a link to your website about how this is a great way your practice is seeing patients during the COVID or Coronavirus shutdown. It will add points to your website for search engines and the article should appear high on Google. There are tons of companies that can do this for you easily. Here is one:
4. Advertise with Google. Yep thats right, take out ads via Google ads. Again this is a simple method of promoting the practice. The key to these ads will be that you emphasize that your Podiatrists are taking telemedicine consults in your area. Make sure when you purchase the ads from Google that you target your individual area.
5. Advertise on websites that are big in your local area such as the newspapers or any kind of news website. The amount of traffic that news websites are getting right now is insane. You want to advertise with them to get your information out. Another option is to advertise on websites that get a lot of Podiatry traffic nationally. In this situation you could say that you will consult anybody for $50. I would include this in the ad. Some websites you might think of contacting to advertise on are: WebMD, Reddit, Podiatry Advice.
Whatever you do not lose hope. You will get through this as you have been in worse situations before.