Marketing strategies for vascular practitioners

BackgroundA common misconception is that marketing is synonymous with advertising. Marketing by physicians has undergone a transformation from the earlier unacceptable slick sales pitches to a more common sense, tasteful, comprehensive, and well thought out plan to reach potential patients.Methods and ResultsMarketing is a much broader concept comprising four aspects: product, price, promotion, and place. Marketing activities for a medical practice include not only external but internal tactics. Publicly available resources are available to assist physicians in developing and targeting the plan towards a narrow patient demographic. The marketing process includes: determining objectives, identifying resources, defining target population, honing a message, outlining a media plan, implementing the plan, and finally, evaluating the success or failure of the marketing campaign.ConclusionA basic knowledge of marketing combined with a common sense approach can yield dividends for those practices that need the service. For surgical practices that exist in heavily populated urban areas with significant competition, a well thought out marketing plan can assist the practice in reaching out to new groups of patients and maintaining the existing patient base

Abstract P243: Potential Cost Savings With CMR-Guided Selective Invasive Strategy in Non-ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome

Background We have previously shown that rapid cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) to identify myocardium at risk predicts the need for subsequent coronary revascularization in low and moderate risk patients with NSTE-ACS. The current standard diagnostic approach routinely employs invasive coronary angiography with attendant costs and risks, even though large randomized trial suggest that 50% may not have coronary stenoses requiring revascularization. We describe the potential cost savings associated with a CMR-guided strategy that reserves invasive angiography for patients with myocardium at risk in NSTE-ACS. Methods Revascularization outcome was recorded in 712 patients admitted with NSTE-ACS referred for coronary angiography identified as part of an IRB-approved protocol. The study population included those who had a catheterization with no subsequent revascularization procedure, and those who had a catheterization with subsequent percutaneous or surgical coronary revascularization. Standard costs of $2,000 for CMR and$15,000 for coronary angiography were applied to both groups to project the cost savings of using CMR as the initial diagnostic modality. If no revascularization was required, a cost savings equal to the difference between the cost of CMR and angiography was computed. If revascularization was performed, a cost increase by adding CMR to the angiography cost was computed. Results 49.6% of study patients did not undergo revascularization after invasive angiography. Assuming that only patients with CMR-identified myocardium at risk would undergo angiography, the net cost reduction equated to a $3.9MM (36.2%) in this cohort. Initial analysis suggests similar rates of catheterization-related complications in both groups. Conclusion Using CMR to identify myocardium at risk in low-to-moderate risk NSTE-ACS patients may realize significant cost savings while insuring appropriate invasive care for patients most likely to benefit. A prospective, randomized study is warranted to better quantify the impact of a CMR-guided strategy on outcomes and cost in NSTE-ACS. </jats:p