Reasons why you should create a Patient Base before you start your Clinic/Hospital
Many young Ophthalmologists have this concern as to how will they get their patients once they start their clinic, since patients are not going to walk in on day one, and your practice may take time to break even. Before we get into the topic of how to create your patient base, let us understand why it is important to have a patient base before you start your clinic
- You will understand what your Patient profile , what they want and what type of service they expect?
- You can also decide on your pricing strategy.( Premium, Sub Premium, Economical or Low cost)
- You will be having a reputation for yourself before you start your center.
- Breakeven can be achieved faster if you already have a existing base of Patients.
- You will have a support base , which will give you the boost when you launch your centre.
How to create a customer base Before you start?
As per reports from a leading corporate hospital chain, most of their Doctors who want to start their journey into private practice are in their late thirties or early forties, this is the time when they have enough financial and patient capital to start their practice. Let us now understand how to create a patient base before you embark on your private practice.
- Start in your known territory, like your home town, or a place where your community people and relatives reside, or in a place where your parents or in laws are well known, This is like playing a match of cricket in your known turf.
- Working in a charitable/ govt hospital or a Corporate Hospital in the area where you plan to start will give you a push since most patients in that area will be knowing you already.
- Building a Online reputation - by having a you tube channel where you have a good number of subscribers and then starting a practice shall give you the required customer base.
- Being a member of local associations, community organizations , women's clubs, etc - can also give you the base to launch.
I feel its very important to have the patient base before you start and the base has to be built using ethical ways, I dont support Doctors who work in private eye hospitals getting the database from there to start their practice which is highly unethical, but there are 100s of other ethical ways to develop the patient base and I have mentioned a few above.
Dr T Senthil
Founder Ophthall Practice Development
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