Eric Tan ● 4 min read
Firstly, on behalf of FX Medicine we hope everyone is staying healthy and implementing all the necessary preventative health measures. 2020 will forever be known for this unprecedented global pandemic; COVID-19.
What’s becoming increasingly clear, is that for the foreseeable future, due to social distancing, we could see a downturn in the amount of face-to-face consultations that are carried out by all healthcare practitioners.
So, is now a better time than ever to see how you can digitise your practice?
Digitising your practice
Online Consultation / Video Conferencing / Telehealth
As a community of healthcare practitioners, the health of our patients is obviously paramount and their ability to continue to access their choice of health services is a major part of their continued wellbeing. In lieu of the potentially reduced number of face-to-face consultations, there are a number of options to choose from when it comes to digitising the accessibility of your patients to you and your practice, some of these include:
Before commencing online consultations check with your professional association and professional indemnity provider to ensure that you are operating within their guidelines and are fully covered.
Booking Systems
If you want to take the next step, including a place on your website to allow for online booking. Most of these have free options all the way to fully featured options to integrate with your other business systems and even take payments:
EDUCATION: Transform your business in a changing world - 8 Modules, 12 Hours of learning
Peer Advice: Podcasts to listen to
We have podcasted with some very clever practitioners who have already ventured down this road, so have a listen and they can guide you through some of their experiences.
- Evolving an Online Business with Jules Galloway
- Online Consultations: is your practice cyber secure? with Robbie Clark
- Mentoring: delivering innovation through technology with Geraldine Headley
- Taking Your Business Online with Naturopath Jessica Donovan
When choosing which service to utilise for your online consultations ensure that it complies with the Privacy Act particularly when it comes to the security, privacy and condifentiality of data.
Improving your digital footprint
Social media rules the world
More and more the world revolves around social media. Think about the last time you went to an event, where did you see first? Or if you didn’t, that’s where your colleague did.
Social media can be a bit overwhelming for small businesses to keep on top of, it’s usually the first thing that drops off when things get a bit busy. Managing each platform in a standalone manner is tedious, but there are some options out there to help with posting once and distributing that same post everywhere!
Here at FX Medicine, we use MeetEdgar* for its ability to schedule posts to all major social media platforms at once, and also to be able to create a calendar of posts that automatically repost older content. This is particularly helpful for articles or blog posts that will always be relevant, even if they were read today, or 10 years from now. This content is called “evergreen content” and is great for reposting in a cyclical manner. There are plenty of other social media schedulers so please do your research to see what is right for you. Here are some others that you might consider:
Webinars & Live Webinars
Following on from social media schedulers why not record yourself speaking about the reason you got into business, or what you specialise in. Online video is the future of learning and this is an easy way for you to expand your client base by being visible and enabling future clients to connect with you and your specialities., You probably share this kind of information every day with new clients anyways, so why not have it ready for the world to see on a broader scale? You could achieve this using:
Podcasting
Along with the FX Medicine website, podcasting is a major part of what we do. The podcasting world is becoming increasingly crowded, but nevertheless it has the potential to be very effective in bringing in new clientele if you find your audience or niche. Here’s a few websites that can help you get started:
Writing Articles
In addition to high consumption of video, people still do read a lot of health-related content. In fact, some of FX Medicine’s top pieces of content are written articles.
So, if you have a website/blog, spend some time writing. You never know if that piece of content will bring in the next wave of clients. Alternatively, if you don’t have a website and want to flex your writing muscles, get in touch with us at [email protected] if you’d like to submit an article. For our article authors, we create a profile for you, where you will be able to promote yourself, what you do and any social media that you may have.
Take the opportunity
Our guiding principle at FX Medicine has always been “For practitioners, by practitioners”. Let us and the practitioner community know what you’re doing, ordoing or planning to do to digitise your practice.
*In the interest of transparency, please note this link denotes an affiliate link.
DISCLAIMER:
The information provided on FX Medicine is for educational and informational purposes only. The information provided on this site is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional advice or care. Please seek the advice of a qualified health care professional in the event something you have read here raises questions or concerns regarding your health.