Redefining the Physician Liaison Role in Healthcare
If you’re in the physician liaison role, people often ask what you do. Personally, I’m asked almost daily, both inside and outside our industry. Recently, my wife, who’s finishing the clinical portion of PA school, inspired this article. Despite working in healthcare and being married to someone who works with physician liaisons, she still struggles to grasp the role. Ironically, she will soon become a customer of a physician liaison.
It’s easy to see why she’s unclear, as liaisons sometimes struggle to describe their role clearly. Often, I hear, “My job is to make physicians happy.” While this is partially true, it only scratches the surface of what an effective liaison does and what a successful program should accomplish.
The number 1 goal of the most successful outreach programs is to strategically increase market share. By focusing on the below success indicators, you can be sure that you are helping define the physician liaison role for an effective physician liaison for your organization.
In 2017, we completed a value and compensation survey where we surveyed nearly 200 liaisons, as you’ll see in the graphic below, many of the key success factors listed below are often the biggest challenges faced in the physician liaison role, so some of this is easier said than done!
1. Physician Liaison Training/Education
One of my colleagues says, “You are either green and growing or ripe and rotting.” Therefore, continue seeking opportunities for ongoing sales training and education about key service lines. This will position you as a field expert!
2. Program Structure & Internal Collaboration
Structure your program so liaisons can drive change. This requires a reporting structure that positions liaisons as representatives of leadership to providers and internal stakeholders.
3. Access
One of the most common barriers to growth is access! Work to get the people closest to key access points involved in eliminating any issues that prevent your organization from accommodating the new referrals you generate. Countless referrals are won by simply providing the path of least resistance. At Tiller-Hewitt, we launch and manage lean teams and events focused on improving access to key service lines
4. Strategic Focus
Routinely assess your organization’s strategic plan and adjust your efforts as needed. This ensures alignment with your leadership’s goals.
5. Leadership & Provider Involvement/Buy-In
Along those lines, it’s also important that others within the operational team view the liaison as a partner in uncovering and responding to issues. This includes building accountability systems to ensure that your leadership team and key department leaders are consistently closing the loop on issues and opportunities that relate to their departments. It is key to have a strategic sequenced communication plan to ensure your role and expectations are clearly defined both internally within the organization as well as the providers we serve.
6. Market Challenges/Opportunities
Be an expert of your local market by studying the competition to determine opportunities to intelligently defend or up sell your organization. This may include working with your PRM partner to obtain timely claims data, allowing you a better picture of the relationships that exist between providers in your market.
7. PRM Effectiveness & Utilization
Choose a product that is not only easy to use and mobile friendly but also includes the activity, issues and leadership reports you need to connect the dots for the different levels within your organization.
8. Referral Data Availability & Utilization
Referral data from your EHR can offer insights into the quality and quantity of referrals coming into your organization as well as those leaking out. If you don’t have consistent access to this today, seek out referral data specific to the key areas you are focusing on in the year ahead.
9. Collateral/Marketing
Assess your arsenal of marketing collateral and referral tools that make referring to your organization as easy as possible.
For more information about training, launching an effective sales/outreach program, program assessments, or to access several free tools and resources created by and for great liaisons, visit tillerhewitt.com.
Tool Kit — Physician Relations
PRM Adoption Best Practices
Whether you’re already using a PRM platform or considering one, this toolkit offers key insights to help you secure buy-in and optimize your system. With best practices, essential features, and practical tips, you’ll have the tools to effectively implement and maximize your PRM solution for stronger physician relationships and better engagement outcomes.
Demo — Physician Relations
An Inside Look at Marketware’s PRM Platform
Explore our healthcare-specific PRM and analytics platforms designed to help you plan, track, and measure liaison activity across key growth initiatives. With powerful business intelligence, seamless data integrations, and dedicated support, our platforms provide the tools you need to drive better physician engagement and demonstrate ROI.
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