Half Medic

Health Insurance Reform Increases Need For Primary Care Doctors

With healthcare reform one step closer to becoming the law of the land, millions of uninsured people will find themselves better able to afford health care. Typically, the uninsured tend to visit doctors for preventative care far less often. While a person with health insurance can often go see a doctor for a nominal co-payment amount ranging from to , a person without insurance would have to pay their full hourly rate. Depending on the physician, that charge can be over 0 an hour. Many of the uninsured are unable to afford the cost of a monthly insurance premium, so they would probably not have that money available.

An option for them has been to visit an urgent care clinic located in a drug store or other location. Although such clinics are mostly staffed by doctors and can help with minor illnesses, they are unable to build relationships with patients.

A solid doctor-patient relationship is essential for good health and managing chronic conditions. With the lack of that continued support, many uninsured people visit the emergency room for non-emergency conditions. They are more expensive to treat at that stage, since their illnesses have worsened. In addition, local taxpayers end up footing the bill.

Urban or rural populations with high percentages of people living at or near the poverty level are disproportionately impacted. The health insurance reform bill recently passed by the House of Representatives would partially subsidize the purchase of health plans by the portion of 30 million uninsured Americans who fall under certain income levels.

These people will then be in search of primary care doctors. Unfortunately, the United States is currently suffering from a shortage of primary care doctors. The crushing expense of student loans for medical school forces many graduates to enter more lucrative medical specialties. Even though the aforementioned exchange market will not be fully effective until 2014, that will not be enough time for enough potential physicians to make their way through undergraduate education, med school, and residencies. The entire process may take over eight years. With less than half of medical school graduates entering primary care, there is still a ways to go.

As it is, many doctors have been forced to stop accepting new patients, or refuse to accept patients under Medicare or certain health insurance plans whose reimbursements they consider too low. The cost of medical malpractice insurance–which is not mentioned in the legislation–is an additional factor that prevents more doctors from opening their doors.

Internet Marketing For Doctors And Health Care Professionals
Doctors and other healthcare professionals need to constantly focus on using Internet marketing to help consistently promote and advertise their specialized services. Without these three proven elements of healthcare Internet marketing, the private practices and healthcare facilities of these professionals wouldn’t generate as much revenue as possible.

Talk About Practice

One of the most important factors to include on an Internet website devoted to a healthcare practice involves a thorough, in depth discussion that explains all about the healthcare organization. It should include not only the name of the business but the days and hours of operation and all of the specialized services that they perform. It should also speak to the issue of their fee schedule, whether they’re board certified, diplomats or fellows of a major medical organization, and just how extensive their experience is along with promotion of their expert skill sets. And if they want to highlight the fact that they’re a locally based practice, this too should be spelled out in detail in order to attract many more regional patients.

Convey Specialized Healthcare Advice

Moreover, there should always be specialized articles about specific topics relating to the particular healthcare practice for the physician. If a doctor is a plastic surgeon, for example, there should be special articles on the many different types of cosmetic surgery described in full depth, such as rhinoplasty, face lifts, and tummy tucks. These specialized health care marketing articles help to lend much greater authority to the website and also benefit the marketing aspect of the practice by showing that the practice is willing to be generous enough to give out free advice and information. The sites that market themselves this way have a definite advantage over other healthcare sites that simply describe who they are and don’t go into great details about the specific types of procedures that they do. Viewers of these healthcare sites greatly appreciate this pro bono information and it will increase patient appointment bookings.

Links for Further Information

There should also always include as many links as possible so that the person who’s the web browser can obtain further information on the main healthcare subject at hand. A dermatologist should have links to the hospitals he is affiliated with and has staff privileges at, as well as links to what his educational background consisted of, where he did his residency, plus links to FAQs or frequently asked questions that are on a different page than the landing home page. The more information that can be provided, the stronger the health care marketing efforts will be because the patients searching the site will feel as informed as they can possibly be and have great trust in the healthcare professional before even seeing him.