Marketing Your Practice - on the Web

Top 10 reasons to see an ObGyn in 2005

based on nationwide survey of about 198 ObGyns, done by Verispan

Supervision of normal 2nd or later pregnancy 16.6 %
Gynecological exam 13.6 %
Contraceptive counseling 5.7 %
Symptomatic menopausal state 4.6 %
Surgery follow up 3.4 %
Vaginitis 3.1 %
Contraceptive surveillance 2.7 %
Routine postpartum follow up 1.9%
UTI 1.7 %
Osteoporosis 1.7%

A few thoughts on this:

1. These numbers can be a good guide for your marketing, and for the way you present your practice on the web. You may consider declaring yourself a specialist in the most common reasons for people to see an ObGyn. You post this on your website in exactly the order of frequency, and a maximum number of potential patients may be attracted to your office.

2. Where is the dysfunctional uterine bleeding in this list? DUB has the potential to be the biggest money maker in any gyn practice. DUB means ultrasound, saline-infusion sonography, in-office hysteroscopy, EMB - which may be billed as D&C if you do it right, in-office ablation (HerOption, Novasure), myomectomy, hysterectomy. Given these issues it makes sense to become and advertise yourself as THE expert in dysfunctional uterine bleeding. We all may be experts, but your website says YOU are THE expert.

3. Where is the incontinence treatment in this list? A TVT pays as much in MA as 9 months of prenatal care including delivery - talk about fairness!? I ask all my patients during annual exams about incontinence in a gentle way "do you sometimes loose urine? Do you leak urine when you cough or laugh? That leads to some further testing and some procedures, but the majority of patients still come through PCPs as referrals. Incontinence treatment is another service you should advertise on your website. A urologist in my community recently told me that he used to do about 50 slings a year and now, "thanks to the ObGYns" he does only 2 or 3.