10 Tips for Adding Aesthetics to Your OBGYN Practice
The right technology can help you launch your aesthetics business and increase patient satisfaction
Have you thought about offering aesthetics at your practice? If so, you certainly aren’t alone. Many OBGYN practices are turning to aesthetics as an additional source of revenue. Think about it — if your patients already seek out these treatments and services, adding aesthetics to your practice could provide added convenience and give your patients another reason to come back again and again. It could even help you bring in new patients altogether.
However, there is one caveat to giving your patients this full-service experience — you need to have the right technology in place to make it work. Once you expand your business, you’ll have even less time to deal with software that holds you up or gets in the way of creating a stellar patient experience. An all-in-one software solution with built-in OBGYN and aesthetics content has many advantages that generalist software simply can’t touch.
Here are 10 strategies for incorporating aesthetics into your business — and how the right software can help.
1. Help patients see the potential
Patients often have a very specific idea of what they want when they come in for an aesthetics consultation. That’s why you need software that can help patients understand your process and help them visualize what their “after” could look like. For example, ModMed® OBGYN has a built-in anatomic atlas with 3D illustrations specific to aesthetics that you can pull up on your iPad to educate patients. You can also snap a “before” picture of your patient, add annotations, and save it to the patient’s chart. After the procedure is done, our software makes it easy to compare “before” and “after” images side by side to aid in discussions with your patient. All images can be saved to the patient’s chart.
2. Market your new offering to patients
Once you’ve added aesthetics to your practice, you’ll want to get the word out to current patients and prospects. You’ll also want to make sure your website is updated and that it includes information about your new offering. You may also want to revisit your SEO strategy to ensure that you’re ranking locally for aesthetics services and treatments. Email, postcards, in-office signage and educational materials can provide more detailed information about your services and promote any initial specials or coupons. Social media can be another great avenue to get the message out.
Software vendors like ModMed offer digital marketing services that can help you advertise, market and promote your new business online.
3. Set up your E-store to sell products
According to a recent survey, 61% of patients were more likely to buy from their doctors’ websites.* This stat presents an opportunity for you to create yet another revenue stream related to aesthetics — your E-store. Here, you can sell popular products online and offer special promotions to help drive interest.
4. Help patients manage costs
One of the drawbacks of aesthetics is that many services aren’t covered by insurance, so it’s important to be up front about out-of-pocket costs for services and procedures. Putting together quotes during consultations can help patients budget for future expenses and avoid sticker shock on the day of their procedure. With our solution, you can also see which quotes are still open and which ones have translated into actual charges.
Autopay and payment plans (that you agree upon with your patients) help you break costs down further, making them more manageable for patients.
5. Identify interested patients
This is one area where it’s important to be sensitive and respectful of your patients’ feelings toward aesthetics. One way to do this is to hand out a form that allows patients to express whether they would like to learn more about your aesthetics offerings — or not.
Once customers have expressed interest or received consultations, it’s important to follow up and try to get them scheduled. There may also be patients due for treatments to whom you’ll want to reach out as well.
6. Simplify scheduling for your staff
Ideally, your practice management system should make it easier for staff to help patients reserve specific time slots in your schedule and any clinical equipment needed for that visit. It would also give patients the freedom to book specific appointments online, freeing up your staff to handle other tasks. With our solution, you can restrict the types of appointments patients can book online, and you can also decide which appointments are automatically accepted and which ones require approval from your staff.
7. Ask your patients what they think
Asking patients their opinions is going to be crucial during your first year of providing aesthetics services — and every year after that. You’ll want to be proactive about sending out patient surveys and responding to any concerns right away. If your practice doesn’t have time to manage patient feedback, you could enlist the help of reputation management services.
Remember: Every visit is an opportunity to transform happy customers into advocates for your aesthetics business. Patients who are advocates may be willing to leave you a positive review online or let you share their results. This can help prospective patients see what kind of results they can anticipate from your services.
Did you know?
74% of the patients we surveyed placed importance on online reviews when selecting a new doctor.*
8. Easily capture patient consents
In aesthetics, it’s important to capture consents and keep them on file — and with ModMed, patients can do this electronically, giving them the modern experience they expect from an aesthetics practice. They can simply sign consent forms online before their appointment via our patient app or at check-in using an iPad. Signed consents are saved as PDFs in the patient chart.
9. Consider packaging services and treatments
When you package services and treatments, you often get paid up front for services that will be used later. This also provides added convenience to patients who receive regular services.
Does your practice management system help you keep track of bundled services and treatments and even issue coupons when applicable? With ModMed, our system keeps a running tally of how many services have been used and how many are left. And yes, our system helps with coupons, too!
10. Do it all with ONE software system
If you already offer aesthetics services or plan to in the future, an all-in-one EHR and practice management system that serves your OBGYN practice and growing aesthetics business can offer a more seamless experience for your providers and staff.
ModMed has the #1 EHR for both dermatology and plastic surgery, and that aesthetics content has been added to ModMed OBGYN. Our solutions also include marketing services, inventory management, package management, a quoting tool, analytics and more. Want to see how our software can help you save time? Download a quick guide to our aesthetics solutions for more information.
To schedule a demo or get more information about ModMed OBGYN, please visit modmed.com/obgyn
*ModMed 2022 Patient Experience Report: What Patients Really Think, 2022 July.
See survey question 1 in the Appendix. Data reflected is a combined stat of “very important” and “somewhat important.”
This blog is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice. Please consult with your legal counsel and other qualified advisors to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards.
