Physical Therapy Marketing: What is a Physician Liaison?

A PHYSICIAN LIAISON can be the lifeblood of your practice, providing you a steady stream of referrals, representing your brand in the community, and helping you make better, more informed decisions on running your physical therapy practice.

Physician liaisons bring life to your practice with CPR:

Customer Service
Public Relations
Relationship Building

Let’s start by clearing up one misconception: a physician liaison is NOT a salesperson. Sure, a major by-product of their efforts is increased patient visits and sales, but the best liaisons are brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors represent and talk about a company in a positive way; they embody the brand being represented. Why is that important? A physician liaison’s primary role is building connections. They are the ultimate networker!

At FYZICAL, we call the position dedicated to this role the FYZICIAN Liaison. Their job is to educate and provide motivation for physicians, referral coordinators, insurance companies, and businesses to refer patients to their FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers clinic.

Hiring a Physician Liaison & What to Look For

A liaison should embody your brand values. No one personality ensures success, but the key characteristics of a physician liaison are personified by the acronym

Demeanor
Appearance
Value
Ethics

Physician Liaison Practice Guidelines: The 3 D’s

A physician liaison’s main focus is building relationships with referral sources for your practice. There are three distinct referral groups: desired, developing, and dedicated.

1. Desired - those sources you want to connect with, but don’t have any referrals coming from yet.
2. Developing - sources you currently receive some referrals from but would like to see more.
3. Dedicated - raving fans whom you are consistently getting referrals from.
   

Who Should a Physician Liaison Target?

Don’t just target the big groups, include the smaller practices to ensure your efforts are diversified. Create a list of referral sources and group them by the 3 ‘D’ categories. Set expectations with your referral sources. If you start the relationship by bringing coffee and snacks every visit, they will start to expect it and when you don’t, they may think negatively of your liaison, and by extension, your practice. Make sure that you set sustainable expectations for visits. The best liaisons keep things fresh and switch things up regularly through a variety of marketing tools.

Set the Foundation. Get Daily Insights. Have a Blueprint for Success.

You cannot manage what you cannot measure, so using a blueprint to guide activity will help both you and your liaison be the most effective. It’s important for the physician liaison to understand where referrals are coming from and the type of referrals coming from each source. For example, if you are getting only shoulder referrals from one source, the liaison can adjust your messaging to share more about your other services.

The End Results

A Physician Liaison saves you time and money as an owner while providing key insights to help guide the growth strategy for your practice. They also bring in patients and increase your bottom line. Enhance the reputation of your practice and create a buzz in your community by learning how to implement a physician liaison in your practice

Everything You Need to Know About a Physician Liaison

This free guide offers:

• Solutions for common problems with FYZICIAN liaison programs 
• Insight to hiring the BEST physician liaison for your practice
• Everything you need to start flooding your practice with referrals!

Download Your Free Guide