Thousands of healthcare providers trust PatientPop to manage each step of practice growth, from the moment patients find them online to post-visit feedback. Today, we hear from customer Eugene Stautberg, MD, of Southwest Orthopedic Group.
Southwest Orthopedic Group is a nine-provider practice with eight locations in the greater Houston area. Dr. Stautberg joined the practice in 2018, the same year they partnered with PatientPop. PatientPop representative Lisa Christy spoke with Dr. Stautberg about his practice’s experiences and successes with PatientPop. Read the below transcript for his PatientPop review.
PatientPop review: Eugene Stautberg, MD
Lisa Christy: Dr. Stautberg, let’s start at the beginning. When did you know that you wanted to pursue a career in medicine? How did you choose your specialty?
Eugene Stautberg, MD: As an undergrad, I studied engineering, which is something I have always been interested in, but I ultimately wanted to go into medicine. I chose orthopedics because it somewhat overlaps with engineering.
Christy: After graduating from medical school, why did you want to work in a private practice rather than a hospital?
Stautberg: I saw the restrictions that some big institutions put on providers, and that turned me off to that model of healthcare. I wanted to be able to practice in the way I feel is the best for patients. I work with eight other orthopedic surgeons, and that’s something that’s very important to all of us.
Christy: We hear that a lot from healthcare providers: that they want the freedom to do things their way but can’t when they work in a big hospital system. Tell me a little bit about Southwest Orthopedic Group.
Stautberg: The practice was founded in 2002 by two surgeons and has slowly grown since that time. I joined the practice in 2018. There are nine orthopedic surgeons at our practice, myself included, as well as 40-50 staff.
The goal of our group is to have all subspecialties within orthopedics covered. We’ve pretty much achieved that, with surgeons who specialize in hand and upper extremity, spine, neck, foot, sports medicine, trauma.
Christy: Are you aware of how the practice attracted patients before working with PatientPop?
Stautberg: Yes, I’ve talked to them about this. Word-of-mouth was the big one. They worked with workers compensation case managers and ERs for referrals.
Read: Is word-of-mouth marketing the best way to attract new patients?
Christy: So, not really much of an online presence for the practice?
Stautberg: There was a website, but it was one of those websites that was obviously made in the 1990s and hadn’t been updated since then.
Christy: How did you discover PatientPop?
Stautberg: I looked at websites of different orthopedic groups around Texas and the country to see whose websites were clean and easy to use. I contacted a handful of the companies that designed the websites, including PatientPop.
Christy: What was it you were looking for when you were vetting all the different companies?
Stautberg: I wanted a company that could build a website that was user-friendly, especially on mobile because so many people start their search for doctors on their phones. It needed to have search engine optimization. And I wanted something that was unique.
Also, I didn’t want anything that was a huge expense. I was just starting out, so I couldn’t really afford this big custom website built from scratch.
Christy: Let’s talk about the medical website PatientPop built. What did you think about your website when you first saw it?
Stautberg: I was really impressed. I appreciated that y’all were able to write good content optimized for search from the get-go. I made a few edits and y’all were really responsive to changes.
Also see: How to write medical website content that performs in local search
Christy: Search-optimized content is essential for good search rankings. About how long after your website launched did you start to see it climb in search results?
Stautberg: I saw a little movement in the first quarter, but I really noticed a change at about the six-month mark. That’s when we started showing up on the first page for some searches. I ask people where they found me. More and more, they’re finding me on the internet.
Christy: That’s what we find with a lot of our practices. It’s usually around the six-month mark that their SEO really starts to kick in and they climb in results. What do your patients say about your practice website?
Stautberg: You know, one older gentleman … he was probably in his late 50s or early 60s … someone I wouldn’t expect to comment on a website … he talked about how clean it was and how easy it was to get around the website. I made a point to bring that up to my staff because I take pride in how it looks and how it functions.
Christy: That just goes to show you that you really can’t generalize about folks.
Stautberg: I agree.
Christy: Can you tell me a little bit about the feedback you get from patients via patient satisfaction surveys?
Stautberg: PatientPop is the best tool that I’ve seen in its ability to contact patients and ask for their feedback. It allows us to identify an unhappy patient right away so that we can reach out to them and figure out why they’re dissatisfied with our service. I also like the emails PatientPop sends to us when new patient reviews are posted.
New patients really notice reviews. They’ll come in and say, “You have a 4.9 rating, so I’m here.” I say, “That sounds good to me.”
Christy: Tell me about your experiences with PatientPop customer service.
Stautberg: There are never any barriers for me to contact PatientPop, and they’re always receptive. I never worry about bothering anyone with emails. When there’s something we want to change on the website, PatientPop works on it right away.
Christy: That’s great. What would you say is the best part of PatientPop for you?
Stautberg: I think just having such a great online appearance. Your first impression is so important. Having a website that loads quickly and looks clean comforts people and allows them to feel this is a professional organization. They see the phone number and they call it, and then it’s on our service and care to take it the rest of the way.
Christy: This is my last question for you: Say I’m your peer and I don’t have PatientPop. What would you say to convince me to give PatientPop a try?
Stautberg: I would tell you that, if you want to reach an audience of patients that don’t even know you exist, if you want to get your name out there online, that is what PatientPop will do for you.
Christy: Dr. Stautberg, thank you for giving us this time and for sharing your insight. We really appreciate it.
Stautberg: Awesome, thank you.
Looking to attract and retain more patients? See “The best orthopedic marketing and advertising strategies for long-term practice growth.”
Want another opinion on PatientPop? Check out what Marian Keen, PA-C, has to say in her PatientPop review.
