For example, recently I have had the great pleasure of getting to know Carol Fisher, who is an instructor of yoga in Walnut Creek, CA. Carol is one of those people you run across that is truly a delight. She was referred to me by a mutual friend several months ago, and we were able to get acquainted during the course of helping her with marketing strategy for her business.

I’ve learned a few important things from Carol, some of which we’ll save for a different post (since it has very little to do with yoga). But in the process of learning about the work that she does, she helped me understand something about the importance of movement, balance and strength for persons suffering with Parkinson’s disease.

Now, I already have a fair amount of knowledge about Parkinson’s disease, in no small part thanks to the Parkinson’s disease doctor who has been a client of ours for several years now. So I’m familiar with the tremor, the gait and other unique symptoms that Parkinson’s sufferers have to deal with.

But until I met Carol, I never would have imagined that training under a yoga instructor could really improve the quality of life for a Parkinson’s patient.

Why Yoga for Parkinson’s Disease?

Evidently, there’s quite a bit of research which suggests that exercise is helpful for Parkinson’s sufferers. Since that’s true, it makes perfect sense that yoga might just be an ideal form of exercise for Parkinson’s disease patients.

And while yoga (nor any other form of exercise, for that matter) doesn’t truly treat any Parkinson’s symptoms, one can see how the flexibility, balance and strength gained through engaging in yoga could, in fact, really improve the overall health, confidence and quality of life for someone facing this disease.

A Parkinson’s diagnosis can, in and of itself, bring a great deal of stress along with it. Yoga is widely known as a great tool for dealing with stress. In addition, the average age of Parkinson’s onset is approximately 60 years. Thus, Parkinson’s sufferers are also dealing with the normal issues related to aging. This means that staying physically active and improving balance and strength are more important than ever… and much more so given the symptoms of the disease.

And this is only the beginning. Carol has begun writing about Parkinson’s disease and yoga, and she is doing a fantastic job of explaining in greater detail how yoga can serve to help Parkinson’s sufferers. Be sure to check it out! And if you happen to be located in the area east of Oakland, California, then Carol and Inner Key Yoga may be just the physical fitness solution you’ve been looking for — regardless of your age! Perhaps a visit to her yoga in the park in Walnut Creek would be a great way to start!

The post Yoga as a Parkinson’s Disease Treatment appeared first on EpiphanyDigest.

One of our major clients in those early days was a software dealer that focused on providing electronic medical records software (and the related hardware like computers, scanners, tablet PCs and so on) to physicians’ practices. The company wanted to expand into Florida and we worked with them to develop and implement what turned out to be a highly successful marketing strategy.

Along the way, I became very acquainted with the ins & outs of the modern-day medical practice. Many physicians were already accustomed to using “practice management software” that handled important tasks like scheduling patient appointments and billing insurance companies, medicare & the patients themselves for services rendered.

Electronic Medical Records Software

However, at that time, it was still a relatively novel idea for a smaller, privately-owned medical practice to be using a system for handling electronic patient records (or electronic health records — EHR — as they have come to be known). Even more novel was the idea that an electronic medical records system (EMR) would be integrated with a “practice management” system so that all the patient data was in one place. At that time, if practices were using an EMR system, it was typically completely separate from the scheduling & billing functions that were traditionally part of a practice management system.

We worked with this software company for an extended client engagement which lasted somewhere in the neighborhood of about 13-14 months. I met a great many medical practice administrators and doctors in various medical specialties from all over the State of Florida during that time period. Some of the doctors that we worked with went on to become friends and even clients of ours in the years that followed.

Since that time, I have remained interested in medical software. In fact, a friend of mine and I started a consulting firm focused on working with physicians to evaluate their own needs and the EMR systems that were being marketed and sold in order to help them make wise decisions and end up achieving long-term ROI (return on investment) from their technology decisions.

But, as time went by, I spent less and less time focused on that world and more time focused on newer clients and growing our primary business. So… I spent some time away from the space.

In the last few months, however, I’ve had good reason to pay a lot more attention. And it’s interesting to me today to see that the EMR systems available now have very little to offer that’s in any way new and improved over the leading systems from 7-9 years ago. In fact, some of the more “cutting edge” systems from years ago were actually further along than where the major players are today. Sadly, many software companies have come and gone — something that seems to be a bit of an epidemic (if you’ll pardon the pun) in the world of medical software.

In fact, the churn in this unique space has created a great deal of reluctance on the part of the typical private medical practice. The doctors who own and/or manage these practices have seen and heard a lot of sales pitches over the years. In some cases, they have invested tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in systems… only to have the software company go out of business or otherwise become unable to provide the much-needed ongoing support that is so critical to a medical practice.

So it’s not surprising when the average physician is reluctant to think about making technology-related changes. To them, it’s about as much fun as a root canal… or exploratory brain surgery (unless, of course, you’re a neurosurgeon… in which case the brain surgery would be fun… as long as it’s being performed on someone else).

Meaningful Use Incentives

Today, however, the government has stepped into the game. Uncle Sam now has a vested interest in making sure that all physicians are tracking patient information (including diagnoses, lab results, prescriptions, etc.) electronically. After all, paper charts have always been incredibly inefficient. And this is all the more true when you have a major role in paying for services being rendered, medications being prescribed, and diagnostics and treatments of all kinds. Aggregating data, keeping track of which physicians are doing what, and which patients are being treated for what illness… these are all reasons to try to force medical practices to use electronic medical records software.

Setting aside the very interesting political and societal ramifications of all this for a moment… what it comes down to today is that government has set up incentives (for now) to reward doctors who can demonstrate “meaningful use” of a qualifying electronic medical records system.

As you might guess, “meaningful use” and “qualifying EMR systems” all have very lengthy (and somewhat bizarre) definitions. But the bottom line is that the first doctors recently got the very first sizable checks from the government to pay out the incentives for using these systems.

On the back side of the incentives is a deadly set of penalties for not adopting a qualifying system within specified time periods. Practices who demonstrate meaningful use early get rewarded. The ones that wait will not only not be rewarded… they’ll actually begin to see cuts in payments for services rendered to Medicare and/or Medicaid patients after a couple of years go by.

What all of this means for the average medical office is this: it’s time to take this seriously. Any medical practices that are using older, outdated systems that don’t meet new government requirements will have to find a new system if their software vendor doesn’t make the necessary enhancements in time. Medical practices that haven’t begun meaningfully using an electronic medical records system at all (you know… the ones still chasing 2-inch thick — or thicker — patient charts around the office) will be forced to purchase and implement a system.

As a patient, you’ve probably begun to see certain physicians taking advantage of technology. Some doctors have welcomed technology quite openly… and you’ll see them carting laptops around the office and typing up visit notes while you wait. Others have dragged their feet and will only begin using technology against their wishes. Some will undoubtedly retire early rather than face that kind of change. Others will be driven out of business by the expense… especially when added to the already high costs of medical malpractice insurance combined with the pressures of reduced reimbursements from insurers and government payers like Medicare and Medicaid (not to mention the high costs of providing health insurance benefits to their own employees).

Regardless, your privacy as a patient is going to be affected. It’s already been greatly reduced in recent years. Pretty soon it’s not going to exist at all thanks to Uncle Sam’s meddling in this game.

On the other hand, the arguments in favor of using EMR systems are substantial. Medical practices that have truly embraced the process and have implemented systems have been able to greatly reduce their operating costs, increase efficiency, increase the speed with which they can access and utilize needed information (very important for you when facing an urgent medical issue of any kind), and even recover from disasters (after all… do you think they had backups of their paper charts?).

The bottom line? We’ll be keeping a close eye on all the issues related to electronic medical records, patient privacy and the economics of practicing medicine in the 21st Century. It’s all about to change…

The post EMR Software: Meaningful Use Incentives for Physicians appeared first on EpiphanyDigest.

Marketing is at the top of the list.

If you know me, then you know that I’m not in favor of untracked, unmeasurable and expensive advertising anyway.  So, don’t get too upset if you think I’m thinking mainly of advertising… I’m not.  What I’m referring to are the systems in your business that produce new prospects and/or customers on a regular basis.

You do have some of those, don’t you?

If not, then the time has come for you to put some in place.  And fast!  If you do, then it’s important that you proceed with caution if you’re eyeing them in your budget.

2 Big Announcements

First… we are happy to unveil a shiny new blog site that just launched. It is focused on small business marketing and already has a few posts on it (some of which were gleaned from other publications for which we’ve written).  This reflects the renewed focus in our business: Epiphany Marketing.

Secondly… there are a couple of big things coming in the next few weeks.  So, this is an announcement about our coming announcements!  But there will be some significant new opportunities for you as a business person to learn how to use applied strategy along with some free and low-cost technology to make sure that your future customers find you instead of someone else.  It’s going to be big!

Here’s a hint: there will be something happening in Sarasota.

If you’re one of our many readers from across the US and around the world… not to worry, we’ve got something coming for you, too.  Keep your eyes glued to this spot… and the new marketing blog, too!

The post Have An Epiphany In Your Marketing appeared first on EpiphanyDigest.

In fact, the work we’ve been doing has been so effective and is in such high demand — particularly among small business owners — that we’ve been forced to bring a shift to our business. Here’s an idea of what I mean:

“When David told me that I could start using the internet as a primary method for marketing my Neurology practice and obtaining new patients, I didn’t believe him. I did not understand the power of the Internet in reaching thousands of people daily with information about my business and services we provide. However, having prior experience of working with Dave, where he made outrageous claims that I didn’t believe, I proceeded with designing a completely new website and blog site.

His predictions came true, where now my Internet presence is responsible for a large number of new referrals. The initial investment cost of the project was rapidly recouped and as an ongoing service, my website has added significant revenue to my annual bottom line. Within 6 months of implementation, I was ranked on the top four pages of Google. Almost 50% of my new patients were (and are) coming in after finding me on the web. I was a busy physician when I started down this road – but I was able to use the techniques he showed me to make my business even more successful. With the excellent response to the website, I have been able to cut our yellow pages advertising budget by fifty percent. David is a skilled IT person and is very knowledgeable about marketing and creative uses of the Internet.”

– V. Daniel Kassicieh, D.O., founder of Sarasota Neurology, P.A.

One client (with a well-established business) multiplied revenues by a factor of 5 just last year alone!

We’re having such tremendous results that we recognize the need to share what we know. The good news is that any business person can implement these strategies right away.

So… I have 2 critical announcements to make.

1. Effective January 1, 2008, we have no longer been offering any consulting services not related to marketing. The epiphanyconsulting.net site will be redesigned (when we have time) to reflect that change.
2. We are formally announcing that we are not accepting new Epiphany Marketing clients at this time. The EpiphanyMarketing.com site has already been changed to reflect this fact. We will continue to evaluate new strategic marketing projects only from existing clients and Epiphany Marketing subscribers on a first-come, first-served basis.
3. This means that the best way to access what we know is to participate in one of our training programs. A new round of these is starting up shortly.

Consider this your personal invitation to join me and my good friend (and client) Michael Pink on a conference call this Thursday or Friday. There are currently 4 time slots to choose from, but a couple of them are already nearly full (we can only accommodate 200 callers on each call), because Michael has been inviting people through his blog. We will consider adding additional slots if these fill up completely.

Here’s where to go sign up for these important calls.

I look forward to talking with you very soon!

The post Finally… Small Business Marketing Made Simple appeared first on EpiphanyDigest.

I’ve come to believe that most of them (the businesses) are suffering from dysfunctional strategy.  Perhaps hypo-strategy is a better way to look at it — a sort of neglect where it comes to developing any overall business philosophy or vision.

Why would I say this?

Most small business websites do just about everything except what they should be doing.

Websites should do 3 4 things for a business:

1. Get you noticed
2. Turn prospects who notice you into raving lunatics who will stop at nothing to buy your products or services.
3. Give those prospects multiple ways to: contact you, interact with you, buy from you, and (depending on your business) receive their purchases immediately
4. Get you noticed some more.

If I were to reverse engineer the strategies behind most of the websites put up by small  businesses, I would conclude that the driving business goals were (in no particular order):

• Duplicate our print brochure (from 4 years ago) in HTML
• Show our competition that we can do do that (have a website) too
• Throw uncle/cousin/nephew/grandchild/friend-of-a-friend who “knows about the internet” a bone
• Show the world our lack of taste by giving us a crack at designing (rather than paying for real design work)
• Set it and forget it
• Make it as hard as possible for anyone who might need or product(s) and/or service(s) to actually find us
• Create yet another piece of marketing for which we have no means of measuring effectiveness and ROI

Hey… if you don’t need any more customers or any additional revenue, then by all means, build your website with some of these goals in mind.

But if you’d rather get some results, then there are a couple of things you need:

• Your own self-managed hosting account running Linux or Unix with Apache, PHP, and MySQL
  • There are lots of hosts, but I recommend 1and1.com
• WordPress
• A couple of hours to download, upload, install, and tinker

Why WordPress, you ask?  Two Three reasons:

1. It will get you noticed (as long as you have decent content)
2. It is user-updateable
3. It will get you noticed

Full disclosure:  it would be impossible for me to own any stock in WordPress, because it’s open-source (and they give it away), and the link to 1and1 is an affiliate link (meaning after you buy your account with them, they’ll issue me a small credit).

 “But David, we don’t have anything worth putting into a blog… and we don’t want to have to keep writing all the time.”

Then just do us all a favor:  close your doors now.

Plus, you can use WordPress as a “content management system” in addition to using it to publish your frequent blog posts.

There’s a lot more to internet marketing than what we’ve mentioned, of course, but in a world where content is king, where frequently-updated content is the supreme king, and where everyone who needs what you’re selling will search for you (most likely using Google), you absolutely must turn on a customer magnet… or watch as your competition gets your future customers instead of you.

By the way, here are some snazzy examples of businesses using WordPress:

• Michael Pink at Selling Among Wolves
• Nourish The Dream (OK… a little shameless self-plug)
• Justin DeStoppelaire at C Service Consulting
• Dr. Kassicieh at Sarasota Neurology

There are lots more, of course.  But the main thing to look for is whether a particular business is getting noticed!

Are you?

The post Are You Getting Noticed? appeared first on EpiphanyDigest.