Midwife Billing Support
What is Midwife Billing Support? As midwives, there is such a large need to understand insurance billing for our families. With the Affordable Care Act covering maternity and newborn care services, some midwives choose to be in network to compete with bigger health care system. Most midwives either do cash or out of network insurance billing for their families. Even if you are a cash only practice, it is essential that all midwives understand how to create at least a superbill for their families. We have so much to worry about as midwives, but getting paid by insurance companies doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it. Get the right billing company or in house expert on your team that understands the medical insurance billing process. Take some great billing and coding courses like ours – BILLING AND CODING TIPS FOR MIDWIVES (midwiferybusinessconsultation.com). Or get a great EHR system that has billing support within its services. There are so many great ways for midwives to get billing support. Each midwife needs to think about their unique needs and how the practice can benefit from accepting insurance payments. If I told you most midwives would make three times the money and families would owe about half of their original out of pocket costs, most midwives would sign up for this option of payment. It is completely possible for most midwives to get paid well by digging into the billing and coding regulations and charging insurance plans for their midwifery care given to clients. Other things to think about with midwife billing support is what services you offer. Do you have a birth center that needs facility charges sent on top of professional charges? How large of a practice volume do you have to help determine if you should do insurance claims yourself, with an EHR system that has billing support, or hire a billing company to help out your midwife practice needs? These are some of the important questions you should be asking yourself when starting to look for midwife billing support resources available. We love helping midwives with determining which direction is best for them, navigating billing company contracts, negotiating insurance contracts, and determining accurate fee schedules to be billing insurance plans for the great midwifery care being given. If you want to learn more about how we can help you with your midwife billing support needs, set up a discovery call with us – Select a Date & Time – Calendly
Midwife Billing Service versus In House Billing
Midwife Billing Service versus In House Billing Midwife Billing Service versus Billing The biggest challenge midwives have is to pick which part of services to keep in-house versus outsource. Do you do breastfeeding support within practice or refer patients to a lactation Consultant down the street? Do you offer doula services or have that part of what birth assistants will do for your clients? Will your insurance processing be done by an established midwifery billing service or be done by your practice directly? You can hire a billing specialist that can do double role of receptionist. Depending on how busy your practice will become, that might be a nice option initially. I find it more has to do with the skill of the midwife or midwife team with billing and coding that determines if a billing company should be hired. Solo midwife practices can do their own billing, but time spent focusing on this “headache of a process” can be spent focusing on patients. There is lots of time spent learning billing and coding, keeping up with standards in coding, know all insurance companies specific rules, and have time to follow up with claims and invoices. Outsourcing a billing service like Larsen Billing or Midwives Advantage are great resources for smaller midwifery practices (less than 3). It is typically 6-10% charge for claims. Some bill flat monthly service plus commission from funds received. Some charge based on commission of what should be collected whether patient pays or not. Are they billing claims under your specific name, business name, or their billing system name using your provider name (subcontractor role of larger entity). Please make sure you understand their specific contract before signing up with any billing company. If a claim is ever questioned, you want to make sure who is ultimately responsible for codes and services rendered on the claims. Most of the time, it is your license and business in question when a billing service submits a claim. Claims should be only submitted for care you directly provided, most billing companies will ask for copy of charted notes or access to your EMR system to view those documents. As your practice grows, it isn’t cost effective having a billing company doing your claim processing. Having someone directly in house as a hourly rate or flat salary is usually best option once midwife business is greater than 4 midwives and midwife team understands billing and coding. If you aren’t sure what to bill or what codes are available to bill, there is lots of risk with insurance fraud and loss of immense revenue with missing important codes. It isn’t just about knowing how to bill maternity care. One must know when to bill a problem visit with maternity care, which supply code can be billed outside of a facility during a home birth, and preventative counseling like tobacco use to be successful. Financial revenue collection For a midwife business to be successful long term, financial revenue collection is key to success. Collection is from cash, co-payments, co-insurance, deductibles, non-covered services, and insurance payments. I rarely outsourced my billing, because I am very comfortable with insurance billing system. I like using EMR systems that have billing services part of it. I can submit my claims, but have a back door customer support team to help with claims getting stuck or rejected and automatically collect patient payments and send balances out after claims are submitted. It is a nice balance between outsourcing, but paying a lower commission to have a charting system do everything all in one. Athena Health I use Athena Health and it works great for having a midwifery practice that does obstetrics and gynecology services. I would just paper chart at home births or birth center deliveries and upload those documents into the patient’s charts later. Rest of care was placed directly in the EMR system that had option after check out to submit patient’s claim to insurance company. I could then do verification of benefits prior to visits, see regularly patient’s balance and where claims were at after delivery. As a new graduate, most midwives just need to focus on caring for mothers and babies while leaving the experts in their fields like insurance billing to that aspect of their practice. Starting your own midwifery practice can seem overwhelming and daunting. Just take each start up or expansion task one step at a time. Hire the right team and you will excel! You don’t have to be an expert at everything, you just need to know how to find the right team members to make your midwifery business perform optimally.
Midwife Billing Maternity Care: What is and isn't included?
Global Maternity Global maternity care includes prenatal care, birth, and postpartum care for a woman if you assist her entire pregnancy. If she transfers out due to risk or moves, billing codes are broken up based on services rendered. There are codes for individual prenatal visits, multiple prenatal visits, birth directly, and postpartum care only. The codes billed would be applicable to the care provided to that woman. If a woman has a cold and is treated, can I bill for seeing her outside of global maternity care? Her first visit with office, can I bill that separately as confirmation of pregnancy or is it part of global care coding? Can I bill lab draws, urine analysis, wet mounts, tobacco counseling, and risk assessment screenings? Home visits during care, can I bill them as well? What is global maternity? Think of maternity care as a “routine service” part of traditional pregnancy care. Prenatal visits are standard with global maternity care. The only way you can bill them separately is if she transfers care, so then each care provider can both be paid for their part of her care. The first prenatal visit can be billed to some insurance companies if the pregnancy test is performed (code for the urine pregnancy test is 81025) and the diagnosis code confirmation of pregnancy is used. Then the first visit can be billed as either 99205 or 99215, depending on if the patient is established or new to the practice. There are a couple of insurance companies that require you to break up the global code into prenatal care, birth, and postpartum care (Blue Care Network in our area). That is the most challenging part of billing and coding rules. Even if there are national guidelines for coding, each private insurance company will make up its own rules on how it wants claims to be submitted and codes to be used. Why insurance billing is so complicated There are many rules, and they are constantly changing. If a woman comes to your office for something outside of routine prenatal care, like a cold or ear infection, that is billed as an office visit based on the level of care (levels 1–5 based on time spent with the patient and complexity of visit). If she is seen for primary care concerns the same day as her prenatal visit, add a modifier 25 to the end of the office visit code to signify to the insurance company that there were two distinctly separate services offered on the same day. Home visits are not part of routine care in the medical system of the United States, but most insurance companies will pay for this service. Be careful though, because it is technically designated for home-bound patients who can’t drive into the office for visits, not based on the patient or midwife’s convenience to see the patient in their home. Use the accurate diagnosis code of pregnancy on the claim, and the insurance company will decide if it will be reimbursed or not. I believe that a 36-week gestation home visit, prepping for home birth, looking over supplies, and giving the midwife a “dry run” to the home prior to birth is essential. Insurance companies may not feel the same way. Codes for home visits are 99346–99350, depending on the time spent with the patient. How to avoid overhead cost How I avoided the additional overhead cost, without knowing if insurance would pay for the home visit, was to make sure my financial agreement with families clearly stated what could be an additional, non-covered service by insurance plans and would be the patient’s ultimate responsibility. Among the items on the list were home visits, birth assistance, birth supplies, driving distance fees to home for those who lived more than 30 miles from the office, and administration fees to help cover insurance billing administration costs. Many families willingly paid for these aspects of care, as the remainder of their care was usually included in their insurance plan. Consequently, the overall out-of-pocket expenses for my services were significantly lower than other home birth midwives in my vicinity. Any testing done that is part of routine prenatal care is included in the global code (urine analysis for protein and glucose is standard of care). If she has signs of vaginal infection and a wet mount read is warranted, code 83986 can definitely be billed in addition to care. Lab draws within the office are code 36415 and billed separately. Global maternity care Prenatal care is divided only when the patient transfers care. The code utilized is determined by the number of visits the patient has had with the practice. If the patient has had less than 4 visits and is new to the practice, each individual visit is billed as a provider office visit 99201-99205 for initial prenatal care. Typically, I would bill 99205 as I spend 60–90 minutes with the patient and ensure that my charting notes reflect the total time spent. Subsequent visits are coded as 99213–99215, depending on the duration of time spent with the patient. If the patient is already established with the practice (seen within the past 3 years), then codes 99211-99215 would be used. The remaining prenatal visits are usually billed as 99213 or 99214. If the patient has been seen 4-6 times by the practice (which may involve multiple midwives within the office), the code used would be 59425. For seven or more prenatal visits, the code would be 59426. In the event that a patient transfers into our practice after receiving care at another office, it is necessary to separate the global maternity care codes based on the services directly provided by our team. This includes prenatal care visits, birth, and postpartum care. The code for vaginal delivery is 59409. The code for vaginal delivery and postpartum care combined is 59410. The code for postpartum care only is 59430. Prolonged support Prolonged one one-on-one support during labor by midwives is paid by some insurance companies. Prolonged
Mental Health Care Challenges for Midwives
Most of us are aware that hormonal changes can occur during pregnancy, regardless of whether we’ve been there or have known someone who has. Many hormonal changes can affect a woman’s mental well-being while she is pregnant. This doesn’t happen after the birth. Women may experience mental health problems after giving birth and even postnatally. Women are asked several questions about their mental health at the beginning of their pregnancy to gain an understanding of how they feel. Some women might feel overwhelmed, others may be in shock, while others may not be prepared for the pregnancy. Others may find their anxiety increasing due to the pregnancy. Mental health is affected by all of these factors. The midwife’s role is to identify signs of mental decline and take appropriate action. Women respond differently to hormonal changes, and it is important for women to feel comfortable talking about their feelings with their midwife. Although Pregnancy is Commonly Viewed as a Joyful Time, it can be Difficult. This is a huge change for the women and their families. Sometimes extra support and encouragement may need to be provided to help them and their family transition into parenthood. Support is essential for women who are unable to articulate their feelings of sadness or anger. Mental health is becoming more widely discussed than ever before, there are still some stereotypes that need to be broken. We continue to lose too many people due to mental health problems. Healthcare professionals have received more training in diagnosing and treating mental illness. They are also more comfortable talking openly about the subject. There are many conditions that can be diagnosed during pregnancy, including antepartum depression (the fear of labor), tokophobia (the fear about birth), postnatal depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Each condition must be understood by midwives. They should also know the signs and symptoms and how to best manage them. Being a Midwife and Helping with Mental Health Issues is About Building a Connection with Women. Many trusts have specialist mental health teams who can help women in need. It is important to understand the differences between hormonal effects on moods, and mental health conditions. This is discussed during the booking appointment. Often, midwives will talk with the partner or close family/friend to make sure they are aware of changes in the woman’s mood. They can also help them seek support and help if necessary. The midwives will check in on the women during pregnancy and after birth to make sure they are healthy and stable. To ensure the best possible outcomes for women suffering from perinatal mental disorders and their families, it is important to provide timely and appropriate care. Midwives need to have a better understanding of perinatal psychological health in order to be able to support women and their families and identify when specialist intervention may be required. To support and train midwives in their crucial role of caring for and collaborating with women with perinatal mental disorders, education and other structural supports such as Care Pathways and documentation are essential. Social media has made it easier for women to talk about mental health and self-care. Women who are suffering from mental illness during pregnancy will be supported by midwives. They can talk about the issues and refer to the appropriate professionals. I believe that it is important to talk openly about mental illness in the long-term. No one should feel ashamed to seek help. Sage, A. (2019, April 30). Mental Health in Midwifery. ARU. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://aru.ac.uk/blogs/mental-health-in-midwifery We have an amazing course entitled Comprehensive Mental Health Course for Midwives and Advanced Practice Providers. Enroll Now!!!
Meditation to Improve Midwife Business Presence
Meditation Meditation is a method or technique to quieten the mind and train it to induce a state of consciousness. Meditation can either be done to avail some of the other benefits like reducing stress, depression, anxiety, etc., or can be done without any purpose. There are many ways of doing meditation, but one thing that is common to all these techniques is that they promote better breathing, relaxation, and calmness. Meditation helps us be more aware of ourselves and our surroundings and is now being practiced all around the world by business owners, yoga enthusiasts, singers, corporate executives, and people from all walks of life. Meditation is also often termed as mindfulness meditation which means that it can be described as an awareness of activity and experience in the current moment. When one concentrates on his/her breathing or focuses on a single point entity, he/she tends to gain more control over thoughts and can apply them to what he/she wants without distraction. This is the reason why it helps improve focus and concentration and is thus advised to students, working mothers, and even entrepreneurs. In this article, we shall discuss how and why meditation is suitable and fantastic for entrepreneurs. Most midwives would agree that business ownership demands them to be highly focused, active, and constantly motivated to achieve self-development. This is a field of work where one has to juggle several duties and tasks at once, and for this, a high level of concentration and hard work is needed. There is no place for negative thoughts, stress, and impatience. Meditation thus works tremendously well since it makes way for better sleep, and patience and also helps the brain to be highly productive. As a busy midwife, try to set aside a few minutes every day for a quiet session of meditation, then you will not only begin to observe changes in your professional life but also in your personal life with mindfulness meditation. Ways meditation can make you a better entrepreneur 1. Eliminates distraction One of the ways in which meditation can help you become a better midwife is by helping you reduce and even eliminate distractions. By meditating regularly, you will begin to experience better control over your thoughts and this in turn will make you feel more focused. Your brain will be able to process emotions and pain in a much better way when focusing on your breathing over a period of time can enable you to control the cortical alpha rhythms. This improved focus helps to reduce all kinds of distractions at work. 2. Promotes healthy sleep For every busy and overworked entrepreneur, it is very important to get a healthy and peaceful sleep every night. But due to innumerable matters at work and stress, good sleep may be hard to come by. Meditation improves sleep quality since it allows the mind to relax and be calm. It promotes better control over emotions, and this has a link to lower activation at bedtime. Thus by meditating regularly, you can sleep well at night and thus be active throughout the day. 3. Reduces stress Another major way in which meditation can turn you into a much better business owner is by reducing stress and anxiety. What meditation does is it tends to reduce the stress hormone called cortisol from our body, thus making you feel less anxious, stressed, and nervous? Stress is a major cause of several life-threatening diseases but by eliminating it meditation keeps you away from these health conditions. It helps you be a calm and composed figure at work. When your employees or workers see you calm and stress-free, they become less anxious and begin to be more positive. 4. Improves association with colleagues/competitors Meditation has the capability to make a person more empathetic, positive, and patient. These qualities can bring about a superb change in you, as far as your association with competitors and colleagues is concerned. Meditation enables you to improve communication with people around you, and this betters the relationship or association. With an improved association with colleagues, workers, and competitors, any entrepreneur can gain more respect and positivity in return. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, every person needs to have a good image not just for those outside the company but also those who work with him/her. 5. Makes you patient Patience is the most undervalued quality or skill for all midwives. No matter how passionate, skilled, and knowledgeable you are, if you don’t have the patience to deal with people around you and birth itself, you will never be able to make your practice a success. What meditation does is that it helps midwives become much more patient? It instills in them a sense of calm and positivity which enables them to achieve goals or deal with failures more patiently. It is thus important to meditate for a few minutes regularly and see this positive change in just a few days. 6. Makes the brain a more productive machine Another reason why meditation can help you become a better business owner is because it makes your brain a much more productive machine and thus gives you the edge in multitasking, improving memory, and thinking clearly. Meditation also makes way for certain brain changes that may protect it from mental illnesses. It has been proved that this practice is linked to an increase and improvement in the signaling of connections in the brain. Thus by meditating every day, you can use your knowledge and skills in a much better way and perform better at work. 7. Makes you more creative Believe it or not but meditating regularly can make you much more imaginative and creative! This practice gives you more control over the mind and enables you to reach parts of the mind and imagination that you could never reach without it. It makes your soul more relaxed, and that makes way for better thinking, visualization, and imagination. Every midwife can gain a lot more by being creative
Meditation and Mantras: Power for your Midwifery Business
Meditation and Mantras What is meditation and why meditation is important in our lives as a midwife? With this deafening and earsplitting setting, presently have, our mental and physical tension produces and increases stress hormones called “cortisol”. Meditation produces a deep state of relaxation and serenity in our minds. While meditating, you focus your attention and eliminate the brook of chaotic thoughts that may be crowding your mind causing stress. People often use meditation to develop beneficial habits and feelings, such as a positive mood and outlook, self-discipline, healthy sleep patterns, and even increased pain tolerance. As a midwife, it is important to have a clear state of mind and focus on your career. When our mind is healthy, we stimulate positive energy and that energy can impact how other people perceive us as a person. That energy can also spread positivity to the people around you. Over the past few years, I realized how meditation helps me to calm myself in the midst of the chaos that surrounds me. I learned to spend time on myself, thinking about nothing but pure relaxation and it gave me better results. It has been deeply beneficial to me, as I was able to decide properly about how I was going to decide what path I am going to take. What is a Mantra? According to the SCL Health organization, a mantra is traditionally a short sound, word, or even phrase spoken in Sanskrit and used for meditation purposes. It’s uttered in repetition to help keep our mind and body focused on the moment. Since ancient times, mantras have been considered sacred and to be calming sounds, which is why you’ll often hear the most common “om” used to wind down the end of a yoga class. But in our modern day and age, the term “mantra” has been co-opted to include self-affirming statements that give us the strength and confidence to face the world. But the underlying purpose is still the same: It’s a way to focus our intentions and calm our minds. So rather than focusing this article on traditional Sanskrit mantras, we’ll explore some daily phrases to say in the morning and keep repeating throughout the day. If you focus your mind on these simple mottos, they should help set you up for success and positivity! The Magic of Mantras Regular chanting of Mantras is believed to wipe out fear, anger, and depression, and help relieve disorders of the different systems in our body. Listening to mantras regulates blood pressure, heart rate, brain waves, and adrenalin levels. But, take note, just like regular medicines, there are specific chants for specific purposes. Meditation and Mantras: Power for your Midwifery Business Meditation and Mantras are powerful tools for your midwifery business. While other business owners struggle with stress and anxiety, keeping your mind and body healthy and relaxed will give you power over negativity. Mantras eventually help us meditate. As meditation requires focus, which is so far, difficult to achieve, but when you chant with concentration, the mind gets focused. Below are 16 Mantras to Start Your Day Right General Wellness 1. “My mind is brilliant. My body is healthy. My spirit is tranquil.” Mind 2. “I create my own path and walk it with joy.” 3. “My positive thoughts guide me to new heights.” 4. “I am conquering my fears and becoming stronger each day.” 5. “I will have a good day because it’s my choice.” 6. “I am not afraid to be wrong.” Body 7. “My body is a temple. I keep my temple clean.” 8. “I hold the key to better health through eating better and exercise.” 9. “Good health is a practice, and I have patience.” 10. “I listen to my body and give it what it needs.” 11. “Every cell in my body is alive and beautiful.” Spirit 12. “My potential is limitless, and I choose where to spend my energy.” 13. “While I support others, I also ask for help when needed.” 14. “I surrender to the flow and have faith in the ultimate good.” 15. “I will speak with confidence and self-assurance.” 16. “My commitment to myself is unbreakable.”
Medication Management: Birth Supplies for Success in Business
Medication Management Midwives need to have medication Management supplies available for safety during birth like pitocin, cytotec, and oxygen for newborn resuscitation. Each state is different depending on your training and certification how medications can be ordered and used. For example in Michigan, CNMs can independently prescribe medications without a physician involvement. For controlled substances, DEA number is required. For CPMs, a written agreement needs to be with a physician or CNM delegating prescription rights or specific aspects of prescription rights to the CPM. Before ordering stock medications for your practice or a prescription for a patient to the pharmacy, know your state requirements and scope of practice. Many larger chain stores have free prenatal vitamins. Wouldn’t it be nice to order those for your clients under your midwifery license? Knowing which medications are most affordable for businesses and consumers alike is vital to your practice. There are certain antibiotics free or really cheap with larger pharmacy chains. There are online pharmacies that are a fraction of the costs of local options. Prescriptions I have in the past given my Amish women’s phone number to a Canadian pharmacy online and a prescription to order an IUD for fraction of the costs compared to US pharmacies. It isn’t legal for a practice to do this, but the position statement of the FDA is encouraging consumers not to use international pharmacies for medications but no legal action will be taken against that person. From Birth Control Buzz, women can order a Paragard for $60 versus $800+ in the US. Mirena is $210 versus $1200+ costs in the US. As far as direct practice stock medications like Pitocin, Cytotec, ampicillin for group beta strep, epinephrine, Rhogam, and vitamin K, I used Sea Coast Medical. It is a great company and easy to work with. Any site will require you to have documentation showing your DEA number, midwife license, and state regulations allowing you to independently order from their site. Sea Coast Medical would show me the brand names, generics, single prices, and bulk prices for items from many different vendors. I knew I was always getting the best price and reps would always call me if a new vendor came in more affordable that hasn’t been placed on the website prior to shipping out the item. Oxygen tanks, I would get it from a local medical supply company like CareLinc. Provide a prescription for stock use with multiple refills on file at the supply company. I had my families get all their free breast pumps from the supply company down the road from the birth center on their way home. I was known in the town as the “McDonald birth center” since women would stay about six hours after delivery and go get their breast pump on the ride home. Workers couldn’t believe how amazing the women felt and it set a great marketing brand for our services. Inventory Keep a good inventory of your medications and supplies. As your practice grows, organization is key to not wasting supplies or medications. The last thing you want to do is order more medication because you can’t find it in your office for the next woman. Check birth supplies as part of your routine postpartum care process to make sure that nothing is close to expiring and should be used first next. Be proactive if many rarely used medications are close to expiring like Vitamin K injections and trade with another midwife for some of her farther-out expiring medications. Medications are a vital part of any midwifery practice. Keeping good records and policies on ordering, managing, and documenting medication ordering and use creates midwifery standards. Safety protocols and utilizing our resources properly make a profitable and sustainable midwifery business. Related Blog: Buying in Bulk Boosts Revenue in Your Midwifery Business
Massive Paradigm Shifts in Midwifery Business Since Pandemic
A Paradigm Shift in Business is Often a Change of Perception or Method. A business’s long-term success depends on its ability to react well to major paradigm shifts. A business owner must organize their business in order to respond effectively to paradigm shifts. This means that you must eliminate the business frustrations that can keep owners bogged down in their daily routine. These twin-terms, pre- and after pandemic, will be heard more often and perhaps for the rest your life. The events of 2020 will reverberate for decades, much like December 7, 1941, which is a date that lives in infamy because it was the beginning of a global generation. When I think of the pre/post bisect, I recall another book: “Paradigms” by Joel Barker. This is a classic work of a futurist. Joel did not invent the paradigm concept. However, his book and companion film helped to reestablish it in modern society. Barker states that a paradigm is a set of rules that institutes limits within which we can learn how to succeed. The market is full of paradigms, many of which are very practical and almost innumerable. Some paradigms are as fundamental as human interaction itself, such as the handshake or the business paradigm of buy low, sell high and keep track. Some were even born today – we’ll get back to them in a moment. How does it work to have multiple paradigms? It doesn’t always work – that’s the problem. Even our most loved paradigms, such as what we sell and how it is sold, don’t last forever. It almost never disintegrates, erodes, or atrophies after its life span. It changes. Barker said that when a paradigm changes, “… all goes back to zero.” Zero is another term for irrelevant. We will see paradigm shifts as we move from the mid-pandemic wormhole to whatever is next. Every business owner must overlay what they did and how it was done, prior to the pandemic. “Back to zero” is now the New Regular Reality. Then ask your team: “How is our knowledge and love changing?” Will the product/process/practice we used last February still be relevant post-pandemic – as in tomorrow, or next February?” Tiny Shifts: There will be many Because of social distancing and changes in customer behavior, virtual and midwifery care paradigms will change. Visitors and labor support restrictions are insignificant compared to the paradigm shift in what is and is not essential for care. You can expect rude shifts in the old ways that you loved serving customers and how they were treated. Small paradigm shifts are common in the New Regular. Customers will need to stay close to you at all times. Ask, listen and confirm the changes you see. Small paradigm shifts need tiny adjustments. Make them often and quickly. Perfect is not the best friend when tiny paradigms are changing. Midwifery Business Consultation Latest Blogs https: midwiferybusinessconsultation.com/latest-blog-page/ Midwifery Business Consultation Youtube Videos https://www.youtube.com/@MidwiferyBusinessConsultation/featured
Marketing Your Midwifery Practice
Marketing Your Midwifery Practice Marketing is essential for branding and success of your practice. Unless you buy an already established practice with huge customer base, midwives need to market their services to the target market. Your marketing campaign should be focused around your mission, unique services, and community you serve. Midwives offer expertise in normal birth. Physicians, like Family Practice Doctors and Obstetricians, get training in medical management of birth. They are great at caring for sick women, but midwives give high quality, family focused care. Birth is a normal process, make your marketing revolve around that! Marketing is one of those landscapes that changes so quickly, it’s challenging to keep up with the best practices. Here are 10 marketing tips to optimize your strategy this year, based on the latest trends: 1. Look for Opportunities to Diversify Most marketing budgets today don’t allow businesses to pursue every distribution channel at once. You need to carefully select channels that are most likely to bring strong returns from your investment. So look for opportunities to diversify your strategy by first researching your audience. Identify niche sub-channels where you’re able to cut through the marketing noise, such as on YouTube, social media groups, etc. Then you can diversify your strategy knowing the payoff will be worth the investment. 2. Embrace Paid Social 86% of social marketers already use Facebook ads, and the platform’s advertising revenue continues to grow. Meanwhile paid advertising options have come up on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and elsewhere. Social media platforms are tweaking their algorithms, making it clear to brands that paid promotion is a must if you want to get visibility. If you want your social strategy to maintain or gain momentum, then embracing paid social is a must. 3. Focus On Your Existing Content Most marketers today understand they need to produce large volumes of content to build a traffic base. They often focus on creating new content, overlooking the value in their existing assets. Pro marketing tip: if you want to keep up with today’s competitive markets, it’s important to use your current content to its fullest potential. For example, you can: Identify your most popular content and use these insights to inform future content you create. Update old content with new data, visuals, or perspective then republish for more reach. Repurpose old content as an infographic, video, slide deck, etc. You can also turn a series of blog posts into a ebook guide or report. 4. Nurture Brand Advocates People look for recommendations from their peers to make purchase decisions. Your own customers are a powerful resource to help you reach new audiences and drive conversions. To make the most of your brand advocates, create campaigns to incentivize them to spread your message. Create an online community or offer rewards for referrals, for example. You can also create a branded hashtag and encourage audiences to use it. 5. Constantly Optimize User Experience Creating a message that speaks to your target audience is only the first step to success in online marketing. It doesn’t matter how great your content is, it won’t drive conversions without excellent website user experience (UX) to go with it. So make sure you’re constantly testing and optimizing UX to drive marketing goals. This includes improving site speed and navigation, ensuring your content is easy to consume on mobile devices, and more. 6. Connect Online and Offline Strategies Creating a consistent customer experience online and off is an important aspect of memorable marketing in 2019. More and more businesses are using in-person events to influence audiences and drive sales, but they often think of them as isolated from online marketing initiatives. To get the most out of in-person marketing, first identify what steps you want your audience to take after the event (e.g. engage with your emails, sign up for a free product demo, etc). Then create an in-person experience that nurtures them on this journey. Read more about omni-channel marketing strategy. 7. Prioritize Authenticity This one is one of our most important marketing tips. Consumers today are well aware that the content businesses create is agenda-driven. They’re not likely to respond positively to salesy content, so brands need to develop better strategies to build authentic relationships with their audiences. One of the best ways to prioritize authenticity with your marketing is by creating live content. Host a live podcast, stream Facebook Live videos, etc. Make mistakes and go with the flow — you’d be surprised how positively your audience will respond to it all. 8. Create a Memorable Message There are only so many ways to directly promote your products and services through marketing. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to stray away from your main marketing agenda to tell stories that make your brand more memorable and likeable. The more creative you get with storytelling, the more likely you’ll stand out and improve your brand image. A great example of a marketing campaign with this focus comes from the diaper brand Huggies. They found research showing the positive impact of hugs on babies — hugs help build their immune systems, stabilize vital signs, improve brain development, etc. This inspired the brand’s “No Baby Unhugged” campaign aimed at educating parents about the benefits of skin-to-skin contact, and providing volunteers in hospitals for babies in need of hugs. 9. Build Partnerships Advertising is a great way to broaden your reach on social media and the web. But it doesn’t compare to the power of a strong recommendation from knowledgeable influencers. Collaborate with other major players in your industry to reach a new audience and gain some social proof for your business. You can also enlist the help of micro-influencers to serve as your brand advocates on social media and the blogosphere. 10. Make Performance Analysis an Ongoing Strategy Any seasoned marketer knows the importance of performance analytics to optimize their strategy. But waiting until the end of a marketing campaign to analyze and adjust seriously limits the potential benefits of performance analysis. Top marketers don’t rely
Marketing your Midwife Business using Facebook
Facebook Marketing There are many great ways to market your midwifery business. Spend some time learning about your options. Some costs money, some are just time consuming. If you are starting out your practice or wanting to take it to the next level, I strongly encourage you to look into Facebook marketing. You can have a page dedicated to your business. Your personal page can be mixed with family pictures, appreciation posts, and business updates. Anything is possible with online marketing. I have seen great following happen when people just starting offering advice and posting daily about their business updates. Women love their midwives (even years after practice is ended). Use your leverage and support midwives in the community. Your business doesn’t need any money for marketing. Boosting posts with funds is helpful, but not required. This tool is helpful, because you can target specific populations that the paid posts will go towards like females aged 25-35. Make some regular posts (can be easily done in a group, but timed to come out every few days on your Facebook page). Increasing your likes will only help your credibility Mix up education, empowerment, and questions to community for regular shares and engagement. Increasing your likes will only help your credibility. Doing a giveaway where pasts clients put testimonials on your Facebook page will greatly improve your power. Your shares will reach new potential customers in the community. Be mindful of patient’s personal information or posting things about patients with practice. Get in writing any permission for stories or pictures before sharing them on your site. Personal pictures and stories are the most powerful tools to use. Most ladies are more than happy to help promote their midwife using birth stories and adorable baby pictures. You could always put a simple post out getting past clients to post their own comments to promote your center like, “Today is our one year anniversary. We have had thirty beautiful births with our birth center. If anyone want to post their birth stories or baby pictures from their experiences, we would love to hear from you.” Linking your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts will make marketing easier. Posting an update on one location will automatically feed into other advertising portal instantly for you. Create positive, helpful comments will market your practice far more than listing the services you offer and “specials you are currently running.” Women follow inspiration, especially when it comes to birth and knowing there are options available. Make Wednesday “Wisdom Wednesday” and have followers posts their questions and have midwife team answer. Maybe posts a health topic for community to answer and create engagement that way. Try to avoid topics that are more likely to be controversial like vaccinations, circumcision, and elective cesarean sections. Our goals is to create a positive discussion, not have virtual arguments making other uncomfortable reading your Facebook Page. Use the power of personalized care in an assembly line maternity system to your advantage. Facebook is constantly checked on everyone’s phones, computers, and tablets. Keep them updated with the exciting things happening at your practice and future plans. It will come back ten folds with clients to see in the office. Enroll now to our Course Marketing Essentials For Midwives