3 Patient Loyalty Program For Runners

 You know that motivated patient that does everything you ask of them? Often, it’s the athlete that is yearning to return to their chosen sport or activity. I have personally noticed many of my runners are highly self motivated to return to their sport, complete their marathon or to get back to running for their physical health. These patients will often attend all prescribed appointments, complete their HEPs and not only achieve their PT goals but generally make life easier on me as a PT. So don’t these patients deserve a reward? I say unequivocally, YES!

Wouldn’t it be nice to only deal with the self-motivated patients?

Finding patients that are motivated, adherent to their HEPs and attend all of their prescribed appointments can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Many patients will attend a couple visits, cancel with minimal notice, not complete their HEPs and then complain to you about why they don’t feel better. As a PT (and as a business owner) wouldn’t it be nice to only deal with self-motivated patients?And you may be asking yourself… “how can that become my reality?”  The answer, some would say, is patient loyalty programs. 

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Show your patients that you care with loyalty rewards

Emerging research from The Journal of the American Medical Association has identified that healthcare patient loyalty programs are on the rise due to their strong correlation with patient retention. Loyalty programs have become a standard in many other businesses such as restaurants, gyms and sporting equipment retail to name a few. Wouldn’t it make sense to apply that same principle to healthcare? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, healthcare providers accepting Medicare insurance need to be careful of both The Federal Anti-Kickback Statute and The Inducement Law. While I am not an attorney nor providing legal advice, it is important to remember that these laws apply to services rendered to Medicare patients. Therefore, if you provide a running gait analysis that is reimbursed through Medicare give extra consideration prior to initiating a patient loyalty program. But for cash based patients, loyalty programs can be a very effective tool to retain patients. 

Examples of patient loyalty programs for runners

• Discounts towards a running gait analysis for patients that complete their prescribed plan of care
• Example: Provide a 25% off discount for patients that schedule a running gait analysis within 1 month of their discharge date from PT
  
  
• Complimentary “Run Safe Exercise Workshops” with real-time input from a physical therapist
• Example: Offer a workshop that leads runners through common exercises that benefit runners and help avoid injury. Consider providing real-time input to each attendee to ensure they are utilizing the correct form during the workshop.
  
  
• Running Shoe Store Partnership for runners that participate in a running gait analysis
• Example: Partner with a running shoe store to provide a 15% discount on purchased items to any running gait analysis patient.

Make a relationship with your runners with your running gait analysis clinic

Nurturing the relationship with your runners through patient loyalty programs is mutually beneficial to you and the runner. Your programs will help incentivise them to reach their patient goals by completing their POC, help them avoid future injury and participate in a running gait analysis which will further improve their clinical outcomes. Additionally, this will increase the chance of the patient returning to you if they sustain another injury.  If you are interested in learning more about running gait analysis, improving your patients outcomes and/or learning how to start your own profitable running gait analysis clinic click here to check out our continuing education course “The Essentials of Running Gait Analysis”. Additionally, if you have questions about this content or the course feel free to reach out to us to discuss and we will personally respond to your question. 

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