a difference for them to do so.”
– Sharon Stone
“I’ve been going there for years…but they treat me like everyone else.”
– Anonymous patient
Hospitals and clinics have considerable room for improvement in their quest to build patient loyalty as evidenced by the fact that a modest 43% of patients return to the same hospital/hospital system to receive additional healthcare services within five years of their initial visit. By comparison, although the incidence of repeat patronage varies by type of lodging – from economy to luxury – guests who are active members of U.S. hotel loyalty programs account for an estimated 60%+ of annual revenue.
The absence of loyalty programs in healthcare has perpetuated a very interesting and expensive present state: care is episodic. This, in turn, has led most healthcare service providers to invest marketing resources primarily in programs designed to acquire new patients, generally to the exclusion of funding programs designed to encourage…and reward…repeat patronage and loyalty.
This myopia fails to acknowledge two important benefits of establishing an on-going relationship with patients: 1) sustained relationships with patients are likely to enhance their long-term well-being through observance of such things as preventative screenings, medication compliance, nutritional education, and wellness coaching, and 2) the significant financial impact repeat patronage has over time given the lifetime value of patients to the enterprise. We examine these and related considerations in this chapter.
