How do you get referrals from physicians?

Genuine connections with physicians by attending local events, engaging in open communication, and showing a sincere interest in collaborative patient care. Showcase your expertise through clear communication about your services and how they complement the physicians' efforts in delivering comprehensive healthcare. Keep physicians informed on patient progress, ensuring transparent and timely communication to strengthen the partnership and instill confidence in your collaborative approach.

Invest time in understanding the specific needs and preferences of physicians. This could involve researching their patient demographics, understanding their practice focus, and identifying areas where your services align with their patient requirements.

Building relationships is often the first step recommended however I'd suggest the first step be for you to assess what solutions you bring to the table and what type of clients you'd like to work with. Once you have a grasp on what you can do, then finding physicians that align with your solutions is a great first step. Bring able to present a solution that addresses the physician's pain points, while showing how you fit in the process so clients achieve success is invaluable.

Establish strong relationships with physicians through effective communication and collaboration. Demonstrate positive patient outcomes and emphasize how your services complement and enhance overall patient care. Offer educational resources to physicians, showcasing the value of your services and making it easy for them to refer patients.

Every physician will have different needs and preferences when it comes to providing the best care for their patients. Do your research, ask questions, and try to understand their specific challenges and how you could provide a solution.

Please be cautious about saying "I can refer to you if you use my services." The Anti-kickback statute is serious business. That being said, communicating your role in the healthcare ecosystem, explaining what you can offer to their patients, and how you are different, is powerful. Don't expect to get something in return. Just explain what you do, how you do it well, and indicate you'd love to take care of their patients as they were your own family. The work will come.

Clearly articulate the unique value proposition of your services. Highlight how your offerings can enhance patient care, improve outcomes, or provide efficiency in their practice. Use concrete examples and case studies to demonstrate success.

Physicians need to "see" your value, either because they good a good comment from a patient that was referred to you, or because you make their work lighter. Sometimes these things are not visible and we need to place them into KPIs for our referring partners to appreciate.

Respect physicians’ time; they’re extremely busy and lots of people want to talk to them. Work on your elevator speech. Be relevant to physicians’ specialty and personal interests. How will your product or service help them? Focus on how you can help them, not how they help you.

Building rapport and trust with a physician needs to be earned. You want to demonstrate your expertise in your field during your interactions with physicians, maintain regular communication, and ensure you are providing consistent, high-quality services. Be punctual for any planned meetings, follow-through on what you say you will do, and show appreciation for the relationship. If you make an error, admit it, correct it, and ensure that it doesn't reoccur.

Be sure to say thank you. Appreciation goes a long way. Provide patient feedback such as surveys or patient outcome reports. This lets physicians know how their patients felt about the referral and helps physicians incorporate your care into their overall patient care plans.

Appreciation goes a long way. I’ve gotten farther with providing value that helps them, such as articles or references that helps them (i.e. “I saw this and thought of you”) than explicitly asking for referrals.

Keep track of how often you get referrals and if you see changes, check in. Make sure to keep expressing appreciation for their referrals. Ask for their feedback: -“How are we doing?” -“How else can we help?” -“What are your patients saying?” -“What are bumps in the referral process?” Build rapport with the front desk, medical assistants, nursing staff, and referral teams. They are key players and will give you the minority report. They’ll also help steer referrals your way if physicians write referrals for services you provide without specifying a provider. Be sure to close the loop, especially if patients don’t follow through with a referral. The physician needs to know it didn’t happen and adjust the plan of care accordingly.

In the current model, Interventional Radiology is almost solely built around referrals. Tracking and keeping data is so important to maintaining these relationships. Not only do you track if the referrals convert to procedures, but you need to track outcomes of patients and when the referral stops from a provider. Having insight on all of this will improve your value to the people who trust you.

It would depend on what performance measurements are of use to you personally and the physician. If you can demonstrate significant benefit as a result of a referral to you then that physician is much more likely to continue that referral pattern.

Physicians, like any other working professional, are very busy so it is important to keep in contact with them via light touches such as a text or email checking in. Do not get discouraged if at times you do not get a response. Play the long game and keep in contact. Things can change very quickly and a physician may look to refer to you when you least suspect it.