Health insurance is one of the most confusing and upsetting aspects of healthcare for most patients. It is also something that most medical practices fail to address or explain. This leads to confusion and can also create bad feelings between the patient and the provider.
Most of the time, this is nothing more than an innocent oversight, but patient perception of it can be more serious. No one likes surprises, especially when it means hundreds or even thousands of dollars in unexpected bills. Most practices are very upfront about costs and coverages, but if the patient still doesn’t understand, it affects his or her perception of the quality of care they’re receiving. I’m not saying the patient is always right, but there are ways to address this issue that many practices simply bypass because they don’t know how.
The how comes in the form of available information. With literally hundreds of insurance providers working with your practice (and probably hundreds more variations in plans), it is clearly not an option to break the nuances of health insurance down into specific, actionable, universal chunks of information.
Today, I’d like to offer some advice on how to present some of the intricacies of health insurance in blog form. Keeping an up-to-date blog allows the patient to be better educated about how to find the specific information that they need. You can help with that, too, and use your efforts to establish a deeper sense of trust and understanding between your practice and your patients.
Presentation Matters
Blogging is a tricky part of any marketing or public relations strategy. On the one hand, you want to present useful information in a way that complies with applicable rules, policies, and procedures. On the other hand, your blog content has to have the ability to get and hold readers’ attention. How, then, do you make a topic like health insurance exciting and engaging? The answer lies in the presentation. Here are a few strategies:
Succinct Blog Post Titles
Say what topic or topics will be covered and use a relevant keyword if it can be inserted organically and not make the title too wordy. If that’s not possible, don’t worry about it. You have the body of the post and the meta description to insert them in a way that is equally effective.
Titles with Questions
These are some of the best posts for generating clicks. Pose questions like:
• How Can I Find the Best Prices for Uncovered Prescriptions?
• How Will New Medicare Regulations Affect My Treatment?
• What Questions Should I Ask When Selecting a Primary Care Provider?
• How Do I Handle a Medical Billing Dispute?
All of the above will also work as simple “how-to” articles, but posing the question makes the reader feel more understood. “I’m not the first to ask this.” That’s right, because you already did!
Controversial Topics
This one can be even more effective than posing questions because it brings with it the element of intrigue. Maybe the reader is about to discover something that few people in his or her position know or understand. Maybe the reader has strong opinions on the subject already and will want to know your take.
To that end, what are some hot-button issues in the world of health insurance? How is your practice prepared to handle them? More to the point, how does the way you handle them impact the quality of patient care? Demonstrating a clear understanding of controversial issues and how they affect the patient also go a long way in building trust.
Relatable Language
Try not to seed your blog with too much industry speak. Use simple, everyday terms that the reader can readily understand. If you have to use some big words, link directly to their definitions or explanations. Don’t leave people to try to decipher your messaging (because most flat out won’t bother).
Calls to Action
Once you arm readers with information, tell them what they should do with it. If your practice isn’t the best source of information, say so, then link out to places and entities that can do better. You also want to encourage them to call or contact you, especially if the subject at hand is a complex billing or accessibility of care type of issue.
Proper Presentation of Text, Visuals, and Ads
It is perfectly fine to monetize your blog. In fact, we recommend it. That being said, keep the focus on the conveyance of information. Don’t use ads in a way that diverts the reader’s attention away from your core message.
It’s also a very good idea to present text in small chunks. Forget the classic definition of a paragraph. In the world of blogging, bricks of text containing four, five, or six sentences communicate complicated concepts. You want your readers to approach your blog confident that their questions and concerns will be addressed in a way they’ll understand. It’s also easier to find specific information skimming the page if text is presented in shorter bursts.
Finally, on the subject of visuals, I’ve shared this strategy in the past: Custom is always better than stock, and writing content around visuals is more effective than trying to find visuals that encapsulate the messaging in the content.
Getting Help When You Need It
If you are at a complete loss about what to write, call in the pros. BeezContent is rooted and built up on success principles and good SEO practices. If you need help developing quality medical content marketing content, like blogs, BeezContent is here to assist. Just tell us what you hope to accomplish with your blog, and we can show you how to make that plan work.
