Looking for ways to grow your practice and make it stand out from the crowd? Tuesday’s ASGE Clinical Symposium Distinguishing Yourself in Practice: Simple Tricks for Your Practice features a panel of five experienced private practice clinicians who can help you expand and promote your practice.

“The presenters for the symposium are all successful practitioners who will share tips and ideas based on tried-and-true experience that helped them distinguish their practices — not just locally, but some at the national level as well,” said Colleen Schmitt, MD, FACG, FASGE, a gastroenterologist at Galen Medical Group, Chattanooga, TN. Dr. Schmitt and John Petrini, MD, FASGE, a private practice gastroenterologist at Sansum Medical Clinic in Santa Barbara, CA, will moderate the symposium.

Session topics include acquiring new skills and incorporating additional services into a GI practice.

“Unsedated colonoscopy is a great example, particularly in this era of trying to control health care costs, of something that could potentially add value to your practice. More patients are opting for it, but still not all practices are offering it,” Dr. Schmitt said.

Other presentations will focus on marketing, including the use of digital and social media to promote a practice and engage patients.

“We’re talking to a different community of patients nowadays — they are better educated, they bring their own information to the table and they’ve likely already researched you and your practice,” Dr. Schmitt said. “It’s important for you to understand what sets your practice apart and how to market that. You want to make sure you’re putting out the right kind of information via your website and through social media that not only educates and engages patients, but also speaks to referring physicians in your community.”

Dr. Petrini agreed, adding that promoting a practice’s brand and managing patient impressions is more important than ever.

“There’s a growing trend, for example, toward the evaluation of physicians and practices via various data collection vehicles, such as the Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey,” he said. “These evaluations can affect our reputations and may ultimately impact payment. This symposium will be a great opportunity for physicians to learn some of the things they can do to improve their report cards.”

Please refer to the DDW Mobile App or the Program section in Tuesday’s issue for the time and location of this and other DDW^® events.