Patient engagement isn't just a buzzword; it's the key to success for independent pediatric practices looking to grow and remain independent in a shifting healthcare market.

With kids away at camp and families on vacation, it's not uncommon to see a dip in appointments. However, it doesn't have to be that way. By leveraging the right tools and strategies, you can keep your schedule full and ensure your patients receive the care they need.

Cultivating the patient-provider connection is essential to delivering an exceptional patient engagement experience at your pediatric practice. It’s up to you to reimagine what the future of medicine looks like.

Since early 2020, many pediatric practices have been forced to juggle increased patient demand against new safety precautions and a reduction in the number of people they have on staff. The COVID pandemic has been a significant stressor on the pediatric community, with one survey finding that 60% of pediatricians were experiencing at least one dimension of burnout.

Many young children and teens struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, organizations like Duck Cup Memorial Fund are stepping into the fray to bring more awareness to this issue. Sara Jutz, the Executive Director of Duck Cup Memorial Fund, recently spoke on the PediaTricks podcast to share more information about how their organization is working to meet this moment, and make mental health and suicide prevention a much easier subject to speak about openly. 

Rich Szabo, MD, joined the PediaTricks Podcast to discuss "Pediatric Mental Health - Seeing the Whole Child” to address the ongoing mental health crisis, what may be exacerbating these issues for our kids, and how OP’s tools can help.

Social media can be polarizing, but there are many benefits that can be gained from using it as a patient engagement tool in your practice. Having open lines of communication with patients and their families is an important step for practice success, and social media can play a significant role in making this happen.

For many parents, raising kids that have a healthy relationship with social media can be a challenge. Why? Because social media is ubiquitous.

In a field with similar practices, how can you get your pediatric practice to stand out? How can you increase traffic to your website, social media pages, etc.? And, what kind of marketing strategy will resonate with patients’ families?

In the past, excellent patient care was enough to earn word of mouth referrals for pediatric practices. Aside from directory listings, most doctors didn't need to market their practices at all. Parents would simply ask their friends for a doctor recommendation or choose from an insurance company's list of providers.