Strengthening physician relationships. Improving service to medical practices helps hospitals meet patients' needs

In 1983 Sacred Heart Hospital, Yankton, SD, launched a medical staff-based marketing plan. Initial research focused on discovering service-area referring physicians' perceptions and level of utilization of Sacred Heart and its medical staff. The plan's ultimate goal was to strengthen relationships with referring physicians and thus improve the hospital's ability to deliver high-quality healthcare to those in its service area. Physicians were asked to indicate how important certain attributes were in choosing a medical specialist and a referral hospital. Among the attributes they most often cited as "very important" in choice of a specialist were specialist's reputation, patient's previous satisfaction, communication with a referring physician, and patient's preference. For choosing a referral hospital the most frequently cited attributes were availability of latest technology and equipment, hospital's reputation, patient's previous satisfaction, and patient's preference. The study also gathered information on physicians' utilization of and satisfaction with a variety of Sacred Heart services. As a result of the study, the hospital implemented a seven-part strategy to increase referring physicians' satisfaction with and utilization of the hospital and its medical staff. A follow-up study five years later revealed a 6.7 percent increase in the number of service-area physicians who referred patients to Sacred Heart and a 14.2 percent increase in the number of physicians who were "very satisfied" with the hospital's services. The consumer study revealed that high-quality professional services and highly personalized services were very important to patients.