How can I attract more private patients? Many doctors and dentists ask themselves this question. And most of them will probably have already realised that there are hardly any concrete answers to this question - apart from basic advice such as a coherent public image, a good Google ranking, positive reviews or optimal patient care. However, the successful acquisition of private patients begins much earlier. It starts with the questions: Who has private insurance, how and where can I reach them?
In Germany, there are currently around 8.8 million people with full private health insurance [1]. In relation to the total population of 82.2 million, around one in ten German citizens is a private patient. However, the rate varies considerably from region to region: according to estimates, significantly more than 20 per cent of patients in the district of Karlsruhe are privately insured. By comparison, in some regions of the new federal states, the rate is often only a maximum of 8 per cent [2].
This leads to the conclusion that practice owners from the old federal states should theoretically have a much easier time attracting private patients. However, this cannot be generalised on the basis of the figures, as the practice density in the respective region must of course also be taken into account.
Regardless of the region, however, the risk of high wastage is very high if you opt for marketing measures or communication channels that are not specifically aimed at the "private patient" target group.
Who is privately insured?
It is therefore much more important to first ask the question: Who is actually privately insured? The Association of Private Health Insurers provides information on this [3].
Membership structure of private health insurance:
Civil servants and pensioners 42 %
Not gainfully employed (incl. children) 19.9 %
Self-employed 15.7 %
Salaried employees 11.6 %
Pensioner 7.5 %
Students 2.9 %
Unemployed 0.2 %
Equally interesting, of course, is the question of how high the proportion of privately insured persons is within the respective groups. There are figures on this too: Around 85 per cent of civil servants [4], 45 per cent of the self-employed and only 9 per cent of employees are members of a private health insurance scheme [5].
These figures already give an indication of the direction that marketing campaigns targeting private patients should take.
Analysis of privately insured persons in Germany
Targeting private patients
It is important to find out where and through which channels people from the aforementioned circles can best be addressed. Specialist magazines, specialist portals, associations or "clubs", for example, could prove valuable in reaching the target group.
If, for example, the focus is on the self-employed and high-earning managers, business clubs, networking events, interest groups, associations and chambers can be used to get in touch with the target group - for example with sponsoring measures or (even better) by actively involving them with presentations or joint campaigns.
Tip: Use social media targeting to attract private patients
Facebook/Instagram and private patients? In fact, this combination offers a lot of potential. Why? Because meta (the parent company behind Facebook and Instagram, among others) knows its users very well. In addition to hobbies, preferences for clubs, brands, music or films, meta also knows the user's professional interests, occupational group, qualifications or even employer (if this information has been provided).
This means for advertisers: It is relatively easy to reach only the self-employed and/or civil servants with an advertising campaign, as the group can be easily determined and narrowed down. The age, gender or place of residence (or even a recent change of residence) of the clientele provide further narrowing options - all of which can be defined in advance.
Ergo: Facebook and Instagram are particularly well suited to reaching a specific target group.
Advertisers can use the meta Ads Manager to estimate in advance how many people can be reached based on the defined target group criteria.
An example
The following target group criteria, for example, can be defined in order to attract mainly people from the aforementioned groups:
- Age: 25-65
- Occupational group: Self-employed persons, managing directors, owners, civil servants
With this information alone, the following number of people can be reached in the following cities:
- Berlin: 57,000
- Munich: 43,000
- Cologne: 40,000
Of course, a certain scatter loss cannot be completely avoided here either - after all, not every self-employed person, managing director or civil servant is automatically privately insured. But even if we only assume a very low proportion of 20 per cent of privately insured persons, this rate is basically twice as high as that of an untargeted measure that reaches all population groups and therefore only the average proportion of around 10 per cent of privately insured persons
The prerequisite for such a campaign is, of course, that the practice is already active on Facebook or Instagram or takes the measure as an opportunity to join there.
Attracting private patients
Marketing should be well thought out
Regardless of whether it is a marketing campaign for private patients only or all patients: Rash snap judgements without any concept are never advisable.
Instead, the possibilities for marketing - especially locally - should first be carefully examined. From this, concrete measures can be derived that are ideally geared towards the longer term and complement each other. Our agency can provide support with research, idea development and implementation.
Please also see our technical article
We have also published this article in a similar form in the dental journal ZWP - Zahnarzt, Wirtschaft, Praxis (issue 05/2017). You can download the corresponding article as a PDF file download here and print it out.
Sources
[1] Number of insured persons in private health insurance in the years 2009 to 2015 (in 1,000), Statista.de, available online at en.statista.com
[2] Geld zieht Ärzte an, Zeit Online, 23.05.2015. Available on the Internet at: www.zeit.de
[3] PKV Publik, Bunte Mischung, 7/2012, p. 12-13, available on the Internet at: www.pkv.de
[4] THELEN, P: Wie Deutschland 60 Milliarden Euro sparen könnte, Handelsblatt, 10.01.2017. Available on the Internet at: www.handelsblatt.com
[5] Federal Statistical Office, press release dated 16 April 2013 (86 % of the working population have statutory health insurance). Available on the Internet at: www.destatis.de
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We have been making practices throughout Germany fit for the future since 2012. We ensure a contemporary presence (online and offline), optimal search engine discoverability and implement new technologies (such as video consultations or online appointment booking) in everyday practice life and on your website. We also advise doctors on new trends and the extent to which these can be utilised for their own practice. Practice marketing can be utilised.
You are welcome to contact usif we can advise and support you in the acquisition of private patients. If you would like to make an appointment directly for a free initial consultation (as part of a video conference or on site at one of our agencies), you can find the booking options here:
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