What should a new primary care practice do in its first 90 days of marketing?

Before the doors open, the practice needs its NPI and payer credentialing under way, a verified Google Business Profile, a live website, a phone system that is answered and tracked, online or phone scheduling, and documented consent capture for patient messages. Each of these can take weeks, so start them early.

Pre-opening checklist

• Identifiers and payers: an NPI issued through CMS's National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), and credentialing with the payers you plan to accept. Medicare enrollment runs through CMS's PECOS system.
• Google Business Profile: created and verified, with the correct category, hours, services, photos and booking link.
• Website: home page, a page per core service, physician bios, insurance accepted, location and booking.
• Phone and scheduling: a main number used everywhere, call tracking numbers for paid channels, and a callback rule.
• Consent and contracts: consent wording for texts and emails at intake, and BAAs with every vendor that handles patient data.

Marketing a practice whose payer contracts are not active creates frustrated callers. Only advertise the plans you can bill.

Prepare the front desk

The first callers form the first reviews. Before opening, write a short call script: how to greet, which insurance questions to ask, how to offer the earliest appointment, and what to do when the caller is not ready to book. Agree on who returns voicemails and how fast. Rehearse it with real scenarios, including a caller whose plan you do not take yet.

A new practice wins early local searches by having the most complete, accurate profile and website in its area. Fill every Google Business Profile field, use the right primary category, keep name, address and phone identical everywhere, publish a page for each service, and ask the very first patients for honest reviews.

Map rankings depend on relevance, distance and prominence. A new practice cannot change distance, and prominence takes time. Relevance is within your control from day one. That means accurate categories, services that match what patients search, and a website that answers those searches clearly.

• Choose the primary category carefully; see Google Business Profile categories.
• Keep the business name exactly as it appears on signage, without added keywords.
• Add real photos of the building, entrance, parking, team and exam rooms.
• Answer common questions on the website and in the profile's description and services: insurance, same-day visits, new-patient paperwork.

Consistent listings across directories help Google trust your details; see NAP consistency.

List the nearby organizations whose patients or members overlap with yours: specialists, urgent care centers, pharmacies, physical therapists, schools, senior living communities and local employers. Introduce the practice in person with a one-page sheet covering services, insurance accepted, new-patient availability and how to refer. Follow up after each referral.

Specialists and urgent care centers often need a primary care home for patients who do not have one. Make that easy: a direct line, a short referral form and quick appointments for referred patients. Employers are another channel; see employer partnerships for primary care.

Community presence also helps a new name become familiar. A table at a health fair, a talk at the library or a flu-shot day at a local business introduces the physicians in person. Pick a few events where your future patients already gather, rather than trying to attend everything.

Keep referral relationships within the law. The federal Anti-Kickback Statute and many state laws restrict giving anything of value in exchange for referrals of patients. Build relationships with responsiveness, communication and good care, and check any arrangement with counsel.