We often suggest to medical billing services that are looking for new clients that they use a current topic of interest to a medical office in their marketing efforts. The 5010 implementation which will go into effect January 1, 2012 is another great example of an excellent opportunity to market to medical offices. It’s hard to believe that everyone hasn’t heard about 5010 and looked into what it means in their office, but last week our computer guy was taking care of a terrible virus that had attacked and crippled our server and mentioned to us that he has many clients who are medical doctors who are totally unaware of 5010 which involves the electronic exchange of insurance information between the billing software and the insurance carriers. What it boils down to is many doctors are totally unaware if there software is current and will be able to submit their claims any longer after January 1. Without 5010 capable software, their payment for any claims submitted electronically will come to a screeching halt.
This would be a great time for marketers to contact medical providers offering to come in and explain how 5010 will likely affect their offices. We need to learn to take advantage of opportunities that situations like the 5010 implementation involve. The fact that many offices are not prepared for this change and may not have compliant software will be a huge problem.
If I were marketing now to medical practices, I would send a well designed sales letter offering to come into the office to see if they are up to date. You could offer to bring in lunch for the office staff to make it more tempting to the doctor. I would include with the letter a post card that says something like “Save this information in case your claims stopped getting paid in January! We can help!” If the provider doesn’t take you up on your offer to come in and talk to them about the changes the 5010 implementation will bring they may save the post card just in case. Come January and their claims stop getting paid they may look for that post card and call you frantically.
