The Academy’s SO Committee and the YO Info editorial board are collaborating to answer questions from young ophthalmologists. Send your questions to yo_info@aao.org and look for answers in upcoming YO Info articles.
Question by Jason Rupp, MD
Dr. Rupp is a YO Info Editorial Board member. He is doing his fellowship in glaucoma and complex anterior segment surgery at Washington University, Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo.
What strategies did you find most helpful in establishing and maintaining a referral base? What things did you do that were not helpful?
Answered by Thomas Harbin, MD
Dr. Harbin is a Academy Life fellow and Senior Ophthalmologist Committee member practicing at Eye Consultants of Atlanta in Georgia.
The most impactful form of communication is a face-to-face meeting. In Communication Skills and Strategies: Guidelines for Managers at Work, my business school instructor Jerry Dibble pointed out that the most powerful way to communicate is face to face. He called it a full-channel communication in which 65 percent of the message is body language and eye contact, 28 percent comes from voice inflection and only 7 percent comes from the words you choose. A printed announcement of your starting practice, while necessary, is a poor substitute for a meeting.
So, determine who constitutes your referral base and carve out time to meet them and let them know how you can help their patients. I can’t stress how important your going to their office sends a message. It’s uncomfortable, but should be done.
After the meetings, the cliché of the three As come into play — availability, affability and ability. See the patients referred to you in a timely way and snow them with your good attitude and ability. Send them back singing your praises. You will be rewarded. And don’t send multiple pages of boiler plate EMR files as a report. Take the time to send a short letter with only the pertinent details and you will have a friend for life.
Unhelpful things include mere phone calls, as these have less impact.