Making Employer Advisory Councils Work for You

Whether you are just now incorporating occupational health into your service mix or have a burgeoning occupational health component, an Employer Advisory Council is an excellent idea. In general, a council should include at least 12 members (providing a cushion against no-shows) and consist of a mix of owners, company CEOs, and HR personnel that reflect your service area. Be certain to include both high-profile candidates and worker bees from both client and non-client companies. …

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Leveraging Existing Relationships to Generate More Business

FRANK H. LEONE, MBA, MPH Urgent care clinic operators tend to think of increasing employer-generated volume primarily in terms of new prospects; that is, they tend to believe that growth is attained primarily by expanding their client base. But in many cases, there is as much—if not more—opportunity inherent in selling additional services to existing clients. And “cross selling” to existing clients is just one of many potential advantages that your clinic can accrue by …

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Keeping Your Ear to the Customer

FRANK H. LEONE, MBA, MPH “Keep your ear to the customer” is a central tenet of effective marketing. Awareness of how your services are used and valued can be especially important in a field like occupational medicine, where the people you treat are often not the ones who contract for those services. There are many ways to keep your ear to the customer, and there are many customer subgroups. “Customers” might include patients, employers, carriers/payors, …

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Occ Med Programs Need Business Plans, Too

FRANK H. LEONE, MBA, MPH In all likelihood, you wouldn’t dream of opening a new urgent care clinic without first putting together a business plan. Doesn’t it make sense that key aspects of your overall business would benefit from the same careful planning? Data from the Urgent Care Association of America indicate that over 60% of urgent care companies offer at least some occupational medicine services; nearly 5% of locations offer occ med exclusively. Putting …

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Developing a Marketing Mindset for Occupational Medicine Services

From a business perspective, successful operation of an urgent care clinic is predicated on the owner’s ability to promote services in an aggressive and meaningful, yet cost effective, manner. This necessity is even more pronounced when occupational health services are included in the mix because such a “blended clinic” deals with two different prospect universes. The starting point in promoting an urgent care practice is to develop and commit to a forward-thinking marketing mindset.

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Occ Med Programs Need Business Plans, Too

In all likelihood, you wouldn’t dream of opening a new urgent care clinic without first putting together a business plan. Doesn’t it make sense that key aspects of your overall business would benefit from the same careful planning? Data from the Urgent Care Association of America indicate that over 60% of urgent care companies offer at least some occupational medicine services; nearly 5% of locations offer occ med exclusively. Putting a business plan for your …

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