Physicians have many choices when determining where to send patients for their surgical care, and patients are now also sharing in this decision. You need to set your surgical facility apart by branding it to patients and their families as caring and to physicians as efficient. Here's how to do just that.

Marketing to your docs
Here are seven ways to entice physicians to bring their cases to your facility.

1. Physicians will usually choose where to take their cases based on convenience - where they already have cases scheduled or the place that requires less travel time from their office. With that in mind, consider providing Internet access, a private phone area with pre-programmed physician office numbers, comfortable and convenient dictation areas, and a medical library with journals and practice-building information.

2. Physicians like empirical evidence of what you can do for them. Let potential docs observe your quick turnaround times, streamlined patient flow, efficient registration and admission procedures, and scheduling methods that will let them maximize the number of procedures they can do at your facility. Have your current physicians talk to recruits - they're likely to have an open mind to what their peers have to say.

3. Have your scheduler create a kit to send to office schedulers. This could include a list of information that will be needed at the time of scheduling, a sample form, and a laminated card with your facility's scheduling line, fax line and hours.

4. Develop a doctor hotline (phone and e-mail) for ideas, suggestions, concerns and rumors. Advertise this communication link with signs in the doctors' lounges and dictation area.

5. Appoint a staff member to act as liaison to physicians' practices. This person could stop by their offices with goodies, brochures and invitations to educational luncheons for doctors and staff members.

6. Invite physicians to work with your staff to create "centers of excellence" for specialty-specific services, such as an orthopedic center with state-of-the-art equipment.

7. Physicians love statistics. They want to know that their patients are receiving cost-effective and efficient services - so show them the numbers on your average discharge times and low case costs. They also want to be assured that their patients will receive the best care possible and good outcomes. Be able to present data on infection and complication rates.

Marketing to your patients
Here are seven ways you can make an impression on patients and potential patients.

1. Think hospitality. Have a policy that patients and their escorts should be greeted upon arrival, or at least acknowledged - if the receptionist is on the phone, a smile and motion that says "just a moment" will do the trick. You can also offer transportation to patients, send thank-you cards, hold a patient appreciation day, and provide patients with blankets, slippers and attractive tote bags for their clothes.

2. Extend the same courtesies to patient escorts. You'll win points for providing television, phone access, workstations, snacks and fresh coffee to patients' escorts. You can use a coffee service that will provide coffee, tea, cream, sugar and disposable cups. Communicate with escorts about procedure progress, providing pagers if they wish to leave the facility. Have an activity area for children. rketing your surgery center and making it a place of caring and comfort will develop a patient chain that will not only ensure patients return when necessary, but also provide positive links to patient caregivers, family and friends. Because of the increased competition in providing community healthcare - such as other ASCs, hospital outpatient departments and physicians' in-office facilities - it's important to bring your center to the forefront of the market by promoting your unique services to both patients and physicians.

3. Communicate on multiple sensory levels. Have pleasant and relaxing music playing in the waiting area and interesting wall hangings or interior decorations. Keep the facility odor-free by using air neutralizers (room deodorizers may cause allergies). Buy comfortable chairs that are easy to get in and out of for all areas of the facility. Choose relaxing colors for scrubs and have first names printed on name badges.

4. Invite the public to visit educational seminars or health fairs presented by your physicians, or to receive flu shots.

5. Provide ongoing communication with patients, such as holding a prize drawing for patients who return satisfaction questionnaires or including patients on your newsletter mailing list. Your staff and physicians or their offices can contribute news, notes and health hints.

6. Put your logo on socks, tote bags, stationery and patient satisfaction questionnaires.

7. A degree of seriousness is also important to building trust and a sense of security. Tailor your message to include this. For example, if most of your patients are geriatric, stress your facility's comfortable attributes, such as the use of warming blankets and its easy first-floor access. In a more urban area, potential patients might respond better to the message that your center is high-tech, innovative and efficient, like their lifestyles.

Competitive market
Marketing your surgery center and making it a place of caring and comfort will develop a patient chain that will not only ensure patients return when necessary, but also provide positive links to patient caregivers, family and friends. Because of the increased competition in providing community healthcare - such as other ASCs, hospital outpatient departments and physicians' in-office facilities - it's important to bring your center to the forefront of the market by promoting your unique services to both patients and physicians.