Circle Social Inc.

Many OON providers don't realize that a number of employer-funded insurance contracts include clauses that provide for higher reimbursements in exchange for guarantees not to balance bill patients, often resulting in millions of dollars of unreimbursed care. This episode is a deep dive into the complex world of third-party administrators (TPAs), downline administrators, self-funded vs. provider-funded insurance plans, and negotiating no balance billing clauses for OON contracts with Ali Beheshti, CEO of Zealie. https://lnkd.in/gXq3fuvi #addiction #insurance

The image is a common one found along the Aegean Coast of Turkey, which our CEO visits every summer. It says, "Blackberry Juice, Cold as Ice!" The problem? Half of the time, if you stop, it's not cold. They don't even have any ice or anywhere cold to store it! It was just marketing BS to get you to stop. This is how many companies think about their marketing: "If the marketing message gets a call, a click, whatever, then we'll get sales." Except, of course, we know what really happens is that most of the customers get angry. So if many customers get angry, why do these roadside stands continue to lie? Because they do get some sales, enough to pay their bills one assumes. This is a tourist area. They don't need a lot of repeat customers. There are enough tourists passing by that stop and buy for them to support themselves. And this is the falsehood that keeps companies putting out bad marketing. They do get "some sales." It seems to "be working." But if they were open and honest in their marketing or, at the very least, delivered on what they promised, this would be a game changer. While there are many tourists who will never come back, there are also many more that come each year. And, of course, there are many many locals that drive these same roads. If these stands sold real blackberry juice that was cold as ice, they'd stand out from their competitors. They'd attract repeat customers both locally and during tourist season. Those customers would tell others what stand to visit because that stand was true to its word. That, right there, is brand building done right. That's how healthcare providers need to think about the relationship between marketing and delivered services. At Circle Social, we work with our clients so that we deeply understand their differentiators. Additionally, we provide market research and insights into what's currently in demand and help providers shape their programs to meet community needs. If you're looking for a marketing partner that does more than optimize a PPC click or Google ranking (though we do that too of course), then get in touch at https://lnkd.in/gEt3tED

As an organization grows, it needs more volume. The biggest mistake we see growing providers make is that they think that what got them here will get them there. This isn't the case. We'll keep it simple and just talk about a single channel, Google Ads. As a treatment provider, you can run campaigns focused on high-intent searches such as "addiction treatment center near me" or "therapist for depression." And, maybe for a 30-bed provider in a metropolitan area, that's all they need to do. So providers think, if we add on another 30 beds, we just increase the spend on Google Ads and it'll work the same. Wrong! There isn't enough volume to fill 60 beds with those key terms. So what does this mean? It means you have to expand out. If we just stick with Google Ads, this means: ◙ Expanding geographic radius. But this is harder because people are less likely to admit the farther away they are. ◙ Expanding keyword targeting. But this is harder because someone searching for "drinking problem" is far less likely to admit than someone search for "treatment for alcoholism near me." ◙ Expanding ad type. Instead of just search, adding on display or extensions. But this is harder because these are lower-intent calls. The structure for each of those campaign options above is different than the structure for the high intent targeting being done before. This means none of the organization's past data will get them from here to there because none of their past data utilized the above tactics. It also means different call tactics. Admitting someone nearby from a "drug rehab near me" search is quite easy. Admitting someone 300 miles away from a "drinking problem search" is much much harder. So not only do you have to learn brand new campaign management tactics, the call team also needs new training. Finally, it means lower conversions. Ad extensions are the lowest quality calls, but, at scale, they are a must-have part of the marketing mix. There is a lot of volume in ad extensions and, at scale, volume is the name of the game. Yes, this means that, as you scale, your conversion rates will change for the worse as you add in more lower-quality strategies. But, the fact of the matter is that you need ALL the volume. You need the high-quality volume, the medium-quality, and the low-quality. It's the only way to fill a big program. #marketing #healthcare #behavioralhealth

Keys to good advertising are understanding your audience and standing out from the competition. Look at the Google Ads below. Which one would you click on? Some notes: ➼ "#1", "the best", "top-rated". These are all turn offs. General marketing research and our own internal data show lower engagement with this kind of language. Why? Because it comes across as disingenuous. People are smart. They know you're not the #1 program. If you're willing to lie in an ad, what else are you lying about? ➼ What do people want in treatment? Is "same day admission" their primary criteria? Most of the time, no. Patients and families want to find lasting recovery. That's their goal. Same day only appeals to those most in crisis, which is only a small percent of call volume. ➼ "Keep your phone and laptop?" That's not a treatment differentiator. It's a desperate cry to get patients into a program because the program doesn't have anything clinical worth talking about. Also, who are you trying to attract? Do you really want the patient whose primary concern is keeping their phone? Or do you want the patient that's looking for the best chance of recovery? Lowering your AMA rate starts by attracting the right patients and letting other providers take the flighty ones. ➼ MAT and traditional rehab are two completely different kinds of patients that require different messaging. Mixing the two is just confusing. ➼ Much internal language is not understood by those outside the field. What does "multiple levels of care" or "dual diagnosis" mean to the average American? Good copy speaks to the average patient, not to the industry expert. ➼ The ad headlines should match the user search intent. All the ads do this well. ➼ The 90-day guarantee is a good differentiator. ➼ 95% of searchers want to go to treatment near them. 3 of the ads do a good job of highlighting location.

The fact is that most six beds and smaller programs, such as IOPs, do $1.5 to $2 million a year or less in revenue. After accounting for real estate, staffing, and marketing costs, profits are maybe 10% in the first few years, if you make a profit at all. And, as an owner, you’ll be working up to 80 hours a week to make that 10%. There are two primary reasons new providers fail: 1) An inability to attract and retain patients 2) An inability to get paid Looking to get a new program off to the right start? Keep reading... https://lnkd.in/gdTwAkXn

High-end private pay programs charge as much as $100,000 a month for patients entering these exclusive facilities. Cultivating referral relationships for patients in the income bracket who can afford such programs requires a specialized approach. Mark O'Connor has worked in outreach for both Caron and The Lighthouse, two programs renowned for the quality of care they provide, a quality that comes at significant cost for their higher end programming. Mark walks us through his relationships and approach that have helped him regularly place patients into such programming. https://lnkd.in/g8yg4M8D

The channels you use have a large effect on inquiry quality. It's easy to see the reason behind this: 🔹Google Ads have the worst rate for commercial providers, with only about 10% being qualified. Think about who clicks on ads at the top of Google search. 90% of people skip the ads. The ones who don't don't really care where they are calling. They've put no thought into it. 33% of ad calls are straight from the ad, they didn't even bother to visit your website, so they know nothing about you. As many as 20% are simply wrong numbers, people who didn't even bother to read the ad and just called the first number they saw after they searched for a competitor's name. 🔹Organic Google search inquiries are better with about 25% being qualified. That's a 2.5X improvement over ads! These searchers are taking the time to scroll down and evaluate listings. They also can't call directly from the result link, so they at least have to visit your website. 🔹With outbound channels such as Facebook, Twitter, TV, etc., these don't generate direct calls, but are seen in lift through organic search, particularly brand search. They are also qualified around 33%. These people didn't call off an ad. They've seen your ad multiple times, have clicked your ad links, have researched you on Google, have read your online reviews, and then still decided to call. They know what you offer, they know what they want, and they've usually self-qualified themselves in terms of insurance/ability to pay. That's why they are the most likely to be qualified versus other channels. These metrics aren't just related to call qualification rates, they directly impact conversion rates as well. The more qualified they are, the easier it is for the call team. Call teams are least likely to convert a Google Ad if a non-crisis call. These callers know nothing about your program and called on a whim. They have to be convinced your program is the right fit, so require the call team to build empathy, address pain points, and clearly differentiate your program. For someone that comes off of a regular Facebook campaign, they've already done the research and mostly decided you're already the right fit. In that case, the call team simply needs to answer some basic questions without truly having to build a strong rapport or highlight how your program is the best fit. Channel strategy matters.

It’s easy to assume that marketing teen treatment is just like marketing adult treatment. Wrong. Whether for addiction, mental health disorders, or inpatient rehab, every aspect of teen marketing differs on a fundamental level from its adult counterparts. What Makes Teen Marketing So Different? The first stark difference shows itself in the search volume data, which reveals a significantly smaller market demand for teen-specific services compared to general offerings. In our report, we’ve presented the monthly search volume data for several common terms... https://lnkd.in/g-3tenkR

Stagnant community outreach and business development strategies are still the norm in much of the field of behavioral health, which is why so many providers struggle to build consistently high-performing teams. Often, lack of results are ascribed to the outreach reps themselves, but the reality is that there is significant opportunity for providers to step up their hiring, training, and support processes for their teams. Shelley K. Plemons M.S., most recently the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth for Discovery Behavioral and now a Senior Consultant for Circle Social, discusses the strategies and tactics that define successful outreach teams. We discuss how much of it is really common sense, but this is certainly a topic where the adage "common sense is often not common practice" applies. https://lnkd.in/g8MnACRV

The behavioral health landscape remains as challenging as ever. Providers that look successful from the outside due to size or scale have stopped expanding or have retracted. This has been the story of behavioral health since we entered the field 10 years ago. While there certainly have been numerous successful exits by founders, the stories of providers succeeding in the long run are few and far between. Last year was no different. Many providers are happy to simply be in the black at all, with a focus on margin a dream for a future day.   After a decade in the behavioral health space working very closely with many of the largest providers in the country and countless small-to-medium-sized ones, we understand the landscape like no one else. This is why even KKR, one of the largest private equity firms in the world, has relied on us for advice regarding its forays into behavioral health.   As we do every year, we’ll be providing a practical guide to what works and doesn’t work in the space based on current trends we see across the country. The right place to start this year’s overview is the perennial difference between building a business and betting on a trend. Not unique to behavioral health, this dynamic is simply the function of capital markets in the US, the product of a seriously overcrowded private equity space, and the usual mix of speculative opportunists versus long-term visionaries... In this year's overview, we cover:   ⦿ Sustainable growth models   ⦿ How to tackle rising costs   ⦿ What's wrong with current approaches to value-based care   ⦿ How to move beyond vanilla care models   ⦿ If providers should be adding on adolescent treatment or other service lines   You can access the full report at the link below. https://lnkd.in/gsccbCz6