By Jim Poggi
Jim Poggi
Setting expectations and bringing a new lab test into the physician office lab
I am excited to have the opportunity to share my thoughts with the distribution community regarding “lab”. It has been my focus throughout my entire career, and I am passionate about it.
My objective with this column is to help you and the practices you serve optimize patient care by using lab in the physician office. We will explore lab with facts, fun, fables and foibles. I plan to look at the business of selling lab products as our customers see it, perceive it and ultimately, CARE about it. I hope you will learn a bit, laugh a lot and create outstanding lab solutions for your customers as a result.
My guiding philosophy is that for you to be relevant to your customers and engage them to actively consider starting or expanding a lab, you need to counter two issues summed up in the famous customer comment: “I don’t know and I don’t care.” Your job, with my help and that of your manufacturers, is to convey information (facts) to help the customer to know, and to also create a bridge between those facts that stimulates the customer to act on them by fitting the facts to their feelings, experiences, emotions and needs (care). To the extent that we are able to successfully perform those two objectives, everybody wins — patients, care givers, you and your suppliers. Ultimately, the health care system will meet two of MACRA’s key objectives: better patient outcomes and better patient satisfaction.
So, how does this relate to “bringing a new test into the physician office lab”? In a future article we will provide more detail on test selection. Today, we are looking at the overall process of getting the prospect to KNOW and CARE.
Getting the prospect to know (facts)
Know your prospect’s patient mix, needs and practice objectives. Actively ask questions about their daily activities, challenges and work flow. Make clear notes regarding their pain points and keep them in mind as you seek to find problems to solve
Understand their payer mix and any obstacles and opportunities it provides. Many insurance companies cover an annual wellness exam. Is lab covered? Can lab screening tests be performed in the office?
Most practices see a classic mix of patient conditions, including infections, diabetes and pre-diabetes, heart and circulatory issues and knowing which diseases they see most frequently can guide your thinking about which screening tests are most appropriate. The basics usually include waived tests for urinalysis, pregnancy, respiratory infections, diabetes screening (glucose) and monitoring (glycosylated hemoglobin) present a classis start for the typical primary care practice.
Getting the prospect to care (needs)
Share the customer facts with a trusted supplier who you believe covers some of the tests pertinent to the practice and develop a solution together. Propose the solution with your supplier and ask:
- How do you see these tests impacting your daily work flow?
- How do you see these tests being used in counseling your patients?
- To what extent do you believe having these tests available during the patient visit will help you initiate or modify a patient treatment plan?
The payoff (adding value)
Ask your customer: “How may we help you implement the new test(s)?”
- Staff meeting to introduce the solution
- Staff training
- Patient brochures and information
- Announcement to the patients
Every day, great facts meet resistance because they cannot convey the full story — they don’t touch the needs and emotions of the prospect. Putting in the time to think in terms of getting your customer to know and care makes a difference. Offering implementation assistance shows that you care, and makes you a more valuable resource.