Electronic health records, or EHR software, are a staple in modern healthcare organizations. Their ability to maintain accurate and easily accessible patient records across facilities has helped physicians provide better care to their patients.
More than 96% of hospitals use some form of EHR system to maintain records, which is good because it shows clear demand for the software.
But in such a saturated market, selling your EHR software and expanding your user base can be difficult.
If you want to increase the user base and boost the revenue of your EHR software, you need the right tips for marketing. Here’s a step-by-step strategy you can use to boost sales for your EHR tools:
TL;DR
- Electronic health records, or EHR, is a software used to maintain patient records across multiple facilities. The majority of hospitals already use EHR software, making the market saturated. However, the right strategy and tips can help expand an EHR software’s user base.
- Understanding the market, providing advanced features, and collaborating with other ventures in the healthcare technology market help boost EHR software sales.
- Integrating the EHR software with payment processing tools like Stax Connect also helps create an all-in-one platform that simplifies workflow management at hospitals and other medical practices.
Understand Your Market
If you want high ROI for your sales efforts, you need to sell to your target market. Broadly, you can market EHR software to:
- Hospitals
- Private practices
- Specialty clinics
- Nursing homes
- Mental health facilities
- Government medical bodies
- Labs and diagnostic centers
- Pharmacies
While all these healthcare ventures use EHR, the features and capacity of your software may be better suited for a particular target group.
For example, if your EHR software has a dedicated feature to maintain image records, you can sell to healthcare facilities that rely on visual progress to monitor the patients’ progress. These include dermatologists, plastic surgeons, oncologists, and dentists.
You also need to know what the current EHR systems lack to identify market gaps. Perhaps, there are very few EHR tools that accommodate multiple specialties in a single system. Or, clinicians might want software that doesn’t have a steep learning curve.
Using this information in your product development will help you create software that addresses customer requirements and has a high demand.
Enhance EHR Software Features
The global EHR market is projected to be valued at $47.25 billion by 2027. With several new and established players in this growing market, you need to introduce novel features to distinguish your product from competitors and improve functionality.
One such in-demand feature in healthcare technology is artificial intelligence (AI). The use of AI, ML, and big data can help improve data management accuracy, speed up medical data entry, and simplify routine practices for medical staff.
Artificial intelligence can be used in EHR for e-prescribing treatment plans, personalizing patient care, and analyzing health information. Combine it with big data analysis, and you can evaluate and automate treatment suggestions, create customizable medical plans, and enable clinical decision support — all within your EHR.
Another area to focus on is to enhance the usability. EHR software is accessed by a lot of people with varying degrees of expertise. While the receptionist or data entry professional generally manages electronic medical records, sometimes the nurses or doctors themselves may want to use it.
In such situations, having EHR software with intuitive features and a quick learning curve helps. Creating a user-friendly EHR tool will make it accessible to people with little to no technical knowledge.
Compliance with healthcare regulations
Regardless of the features you introduce, all EHR software should be in compliance with industry regulations. Since EHR holds healthcare data, you must take steps to make it HIPAA compliant.
You can ensure this by taking care of the following factors:
- Physical safety: Devices that host EHR should be accessible only by the required professionals.
- Authorization: Only professionals who need to access patient information should have EHR passwords and credentials.
- Technical security: Security software, such as firewalls and malware detectors, should be in place on devices hosting EHR.
- Interoperability: EHR data, such as medical history, lab results, and diagnoses, must be shared only through secure channels.
Market Your Product
Physicians, hospital managers, and healthcare providers are present both online and offline. If you want to maximize your reach to the target audience, you need to employ both digital and traditional marketing methods.
Consider digital marketing
There are several digital channels through which you can market your EHR software. If you have a dedicated website or social media presence, you can build an online customer base for your product through the following tactics:
- SEO: Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your website rank better on search engine result pages, boosting organic traffic to your website.
- Content marketing: Content marketing uses blogs, videos, and infographics to inform your audience about the product and boost sales.
- Social media marketing: Through SMM, you can use short videos, reels, posts, and even paid ads to attract and convert leads from social media platforms.
Use traditional marketing approaches
Even with the growing popularity of telehealth, modern medicine still has a largely offline presence. Traditional marketing methods help you target those medical organizations that prefer practicing offline.
- Attend tradeshows: Healthcare tradeshows are an excellent place to interact with medical professionals and introduce them to your product in person.
- Direct mailing: You can also market your product by sending brochures and business cards directly to the mailing addresses of healthcare businesses.
Showcase case studies and testimonials from satisfied users
Regardless of the type of advertising, customers have a higher trust in consumer reviews. More than 92% of B2B buyers are likely to purchase a product after reading a trusted review about it.
If your product already has a few users, you can create case studies and collect testimonials to display online. This will create good word-of-mouth, boosting sales and improving the brand image of your EHR software.
Partner and Collaborate
The healthcare technology market comprises a network of healthcare professionals and organizations. Leveraging this network to market your EHR solution will help you increase revenue through referrals and recommendations.
One way to tap this network is by collaborating with healthcare organizations and influencers. You can either offer free trials of your software or coupons and discount codes in exchange for recommending your product.
Large organizations also rely on multiple technical solutions, such as revenue cycle management (RCM) software and payroll tools. You can partner with such brands to integrate your EHR software within their solution, which helps streamline the entire workflow into a single platform.
Additionally, you can attend conferences, tradeshows, and networking events to connect with brand representatives from around the globe and explore international opportunities.
Price Your Product
The price of your EHR software is one of the first factors customers consider when making purchasing decisions. That’s why, choosing the right cost and pricing model is essential to improve EHR sales.
EHR software can be priced in two ways. You can either choose a one-time fee model where customers purchase lifetime access to the product for a large, one-time payment. Or, you can choose a subscription-based model where customers pay every month to access product features.
Both models have their own pros and cons. Subscription-based models generate a small but recurring revenue every month. On the other hand, the one-time fee model generates a large amount of revenue during the time of sale.
The right pricing model for your EHR product depends on your customer persona. For example, a small-scale private practice may not be able to afford a one-time fee for certified EHR software. Such buyers may choose your product if you offer an affordable alternative—the subscription model.
Regardless of the model you choose, it’s crucial to keep the prices in accordance with the market value. Pricing your product too low may not generate sustainable profits in the long run. But if you price it too high, customers may not want to purchase it.
The best solution is to adopt a value-based pricing model. Set a price or create multiple pricing tiers based on the features you offer and the benefits it brings to the clients.
Offer Payment Processing
In addition to using EHR software, hospitals, and clinics also use some kind of medical billing tools to collect payments from patients. However, using separate software for billing creates hassles as they need to maintain patient data in two different solutions.
Offering an integrated payment processing tool creates an all-in-one EHR solution for your clients. Users can keep track of billing history, pending payments, and reimbursements through the same software used to track patient records.
When choosing a payment processing tool, you also need to consider security measures such as encryption, restricted accessibility, and compliance, which are essential in processing medical payments.
Stax Connect is an excellent platform you can use to integrate payment processing in your EHR solution. It uses a single API for all functions and supports custom integrations for all types of software requirements.
The platform is also PCI compliant, making it a great choice for healthcare-related payment processing. With reporting capabilities, user roles and permissions, and seamless payment support, Stax Connect can help your users securely process payments within the EHR software.
Train Users and Support Them
Along with the functionality and competitive pricing, extensive user support is also essential in marketing your EHR software. If your product has a steep learning curve or elaborate features, provide adequate resources to train new users.
These resources include video tutorials, mock templates, and written guides. You can make these resources easily accessible to your clients by either hosting them on your website or creating a separate knowledge base that your users have exclusive access to.
However, even with training, users might still have queries and issues when using the product. Providing them with live chat or call support helps solve these queries in real-time, improving the overall customer experience.
Expand Your EHR Software User Base
Marketing your EHR software is easy with the right strategy. By identifying the target audience, introducing advanced features, and integrating the right tools like Stax Connect, you can expand your EHR software customer base and boost revenue.
However, the healthcare technology market is constantly evolving. Keeping your product up-to-date with continuous improvement and adaptation helps your product stand out in the EHR software market in the long run.
FAQs about EHR Software
Q: What is EHR software?
Electronic health record (EHR) software is a system that helps maintain and access a patient’s medical history, health records, prescriptions, and other medical information in a digital format.
Q: What is the most popular EHR system?
There are several EHR vendors that provide popular EHR systems. Some widely used systems in the US are Cerner, Epic, eClinicalWorks, and Athenahealth.
Q: What is the difference between an EMR and an EHR?
An electronic medical record (EMR) is software that only contains the patient chart of one healthcare practice. An EHR is software that has the medical history and patient records that can be accessed across multiple practices.
Compared to an EMR system, EHR systems also have more functionality. They help get an overview of a patient’s reports, insights into their treatment, and real-time updates on their lab reports and test results. An EMR software simply helps healthcare workers maintain patient records in their respective facilities.
Q: What is an example of EHR?
The software used at your dentist’s office is a good example of an EHR. The receptionist can access your previous records through the software to set appointment reminders. The doctor can use it to check previous scans and dental records to determine the course of treatment. And you, the patient, can access all the records through the connected iOS app to keep track of your dental history.
Q: Do hospitals have EMR or EHR?
Hospitals can use EMR, EHR, or both. Some small hospitals and private practitioners use only EMR as a limited number of people need access to the records. However, larger hospitals and care facilities use EHR so all the required professionals can access patient records, irrespective of their location.
