February 12, 2025 • 21 mins
CEO of Insight Marketing Group Jennifer Thompson joins the MGMA Insights Podcast to discuss how AI and automation transform medical practices. She shares strategies for improving patient engagement, streamlining operations, and reducing staff burnout. Jennifer will also speak at the MGMA Operations Conference in Las Vegas (March 2-4, 2025) on "Harnessing AI and Automation for Next-Level Healthcare."
Key Takeaways:
AI is changing how patients find healthcare.
- AI-driven search engines like ChatGPT and Gemini are replacing traditional Google searches.
- Optimize website content with FAQs, structured question-answer formats, and voice search compatibility.
AI and automation reduce staff burnout.
- Online scheduling lowers administrative workload.
- AI-driven appointment reminders decrease no-shows.
- Chatbots handle patient inquiries and referrals.
AI improves practice operations and billing.
- AI receptionists manage scheduling, intake, and follow-ups.
- Automated billing and coding tools increase accuracy and reduce claim denials.
- AI tools help update and maintain online practice listings.
Steps to get started with AI today.
- Implement appointment reminders and online scheduling.
- Add a chatbot to your website.
- Optimize website content for AI-driven search engines.
- Explore AI-driven intake and billing solutions.
Resources & Links:
- MGMA Operations Conference (March 2-4, 2025, Las Vegas) – Register Here
- Insight Marketing Group – Learn More
- MGMA Podcast Network – More Episodes
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniel Williams (00:02):
Hi, everyone. Daniel Williams here, senior
editor at MGMA, host of the MGMAPodcast Network. We are back
with another MGMA Insightspodcast today, and we have a
repeat guest. I can't evenremember how many times we've
had this guest on here, but I'mso happy to welcome back to the
show, Jennifer Thompson.Jennifer is chief executive
(00:24):
officer of Insight MarketingGroup and just a really strong
partner with with MGMA,speaking, writing, providing
insights, everything you couldimagine, own marketing, your
medical practice.
Jennifer will be speaking at ourupcoming MGMA operations
conference in Las Vegas, andthat's that conference is gonna
(00:46):
be March. It's gonna be inVegas, so it's not too late to
sign up for that, everyone.Jennifer's gonna be speaking on
the topic of harnessing AI andautomation for next level health
care. Jennifer, welcome back tothe show.
Jennifer Thompson (01:01):
Thank you so much for having me, Daniel, and
I look forward to Las Vegas herein just a month or so.
Daniel Williams (01:07):
Vegas is a cool place. It's just different than
just about anywhere else in theworld. And I've got a lot of
things to talk to you about, butyou have an amazing year coming
up. So just share with ouraudience because a lot of them
know you and share a little bitabout what you're gonna be doing
in the year 2025.
Jennifer Thompson (01:28):
Yeah. Twenty twenty five is a big year for
me. So I'm turning 50. I'mactually turning 50 right around
the time that we're gonna be atthe conference. So it'll be,
like, right in my transitionaltime.
And then I'm, headed up inApril. I'm gonna make the drive
from Florida to Alaska, working,stopping and visiting some
clients, working along the way.And then I'm gonna be over at
the private practice conferencein the fall and then or in the
(01:51):
summer, and then I'm gonna headhome to Florida in the fall, and
then I've got a month in Italyplanned for my for my fiftieth
year.
Daniel Williams (01:59):
You and I were talking offline and went, wow. I
I got a new job when I turned50, but I didn't go to Alaska. I
didn't go to, Italy for a month.And and then you're traveling by
what what did you describe itas?
Jennifer Thompson (02:12):
Oh, yeah. I have I have an RV. I've I've
I've gone up since COVID. Istarted in a small one, got a
bigger one, and a bigger one,and I've got the whole thing
decked out with workspace,office space, great Internet.
So, know, it should be prettygood.
Daniel Williams (02:25):
That is so cool. Well, you're you're gonna
have to, like we're gonna we'regonna call you occasionally and
let you report from the road.It'll be Jennifer Thompson from
the road, and you can give amarketing report of what's going
on from parts unknown and partsthat you, land in. That's so
cool.
Jennifer Thompson (02:44):
Happy to do it. And I will tell you, before
we even get started, I have usedAI to help me with almost all of
my trip planning this yearbecause it's been so easy.
Daniel Williams (02:55):
Okay. Well, shameless plug, but what AI is
your favorite? What's your go tothat you use?
Jennifer Thompson (03:01):
I like them. I like there's quite a few. I
like the newer renditions ofChatGPT, but I really prefer to
do my research on perplexity andmy writing with Claude in
Grammarly.
Daniel Williams (03:13):
Okay. So cool. So cool. Because you're always
cutting edge. I mean, when I askyou a question about marketing,
I just and I have a degree inmarketing, but I never really
used it.
You know, one of those peoplethat gets the degree, does
something completely different.And, I'm just amazed because if
I had a medical practice, you'rewho I would go to to help me
(03:34):
market it. Yeah. So the this isthe interesting thing because I
know you are an innovator andyou're on the cutting edge of
things. I always know you as mygo to person to really map out a
plan on how to market thatpractice, how to, get that
retention, how to get brandingfront and center.
But you're speaking on AI. Sotalk about where you kinda
(03:57):
dipped the toe or dove headfirstinto the deep end on AI. Tell us
about that transformation.
Jennifer Thompson (04:03):
Well, I feel like it's been a lot of sink or
swim. Like, we're all kind offiguring it out as we go. But
plain and simple, like, when itcomes to marketing, you either
get on board the train, the AItrain and automation train, or
you get left at the station. Andso we talk about it kind of
twofold. One is we're allburnout.
Physicians are burnout. Staff isburnout. You know, in fact,
(04:26):
like, stat health care statreports came out with a report a
couple weeks ago about AI andand who's gonna be using it. And
then the numbers show thatalmost sixty percent of doctors
plan to use AI to deal withburnout and staff shortages, in
the next couple of years. Andthen you couple that with, like,
patient experience, which isreally what marketing is all
about, whether it's, you know,getting the patient or dealing
(04:48):
with the patient when they'rethere or post patient follow-up.
Well, you know, Press Ganey cameout with its new numbers, and
61% of people prefer thatdigital first experience. And so
AI helps kinda solve both ofthose problems. It says, let's
drill with deal with burnout,but let's also deal with, you
know, patient experience. AI andautomation is kind of that
intersection for for everything.So it's like either get on the
(05:10):
train or get left at thestation.
Daniel Williams (05:12):
Yeah. Wow. Okay. So how do you see
generative AI changing the waypractices create content and
connect with patients?
Jennifer Thompson (05:24):
It has completely changed things. So if
you think about it and this iswhat bothers me the most is that
for years, all we've done from amarketing perspective, not all,
but one of the major focuspoints from a marketing
perspective is just get yourpractice on the front page of
Google. I don't care if you getyourself there because of
organic traffic, if you do itthrough paid search, or if you
(05:45):
really focus on, like,reputation and directory
listings. Just own that frontpage. That's been the goal.
Well, now with AI, we're notusing Google like we used to.
Daniel Williams (05:56):
Yeah.
Jennifer Thompson (05:56):
In fact, I find myself doing it. I'm going
to chat GPT and asking itquestions that I would have
asked search. And so if youwanna talk about how AI is
upending the way we do marketingand from a content perspective,
that's the biggest change to meis that when we're writing
content, we're having to nowoptimize for Google or for
(06:17):
search, optimize for voice AI,like Alexa or Siri or whatever.
And then we're having tooptimize for all of, like, the
AI snippets that are showing up,you know, through Gemini or
through chat GPT or whatever,which means we're having to use
AI to help us rank for AI, whichis FAQs and things like that. So
let me throw out some moreacronyms.
(06:39):
FAQ, AI, you name it. But that'sto me, that's, like, the biggest
issue is I'm going backretroactively and changing all
the content on my client sites
Daniel Williams (06:49):
Right.
Jennifer Thompson (06:49):
To be optimized. We optimized years
ago for voice. We didn'toptimize for this latest change.
Okay. And when you're lookingat, like, the press gaining
numbers from 2023 for theirpatient experience survey, and
you're seeing that Googlestarted losing market share from
a search standpoint on wherepeople are finding their doctor,
Well, it's that's beenaccelerated probably tenfold
(07:11):
since CHAT g p t came out andall the new renditions of Gen AI
came out.
And so really gonna start payingattention to that, but we can
use AI as kind of thatassistant, that helper, you
know, from a creative creativitystandpoint. But there's some
real numbers that are impactingthe way we market our practices,
and I would say that starts withthe way that search is happening
now.
Daniel Williams (07:30):
Okay. I've gotta stay with this topic.
You're blowing my mind a littlebit because we had you write a
chapter in the advancedstrategies book for medical
practice leaders talking aboutmarketing the practice. And I've
known you now going on, I don'tmaybe four, five, six years.
It's been a minute.
And I'm you exactly what yousaid is what I have heard from
(07:53):
you and from others. Get on thatfront page of Google. Everything
else will figure that out, butyou gotta get there so you come
up in that search. How if you'resaying that people are reaching
their doctors or whateverthey're doing, you, planning out
your travel, whatever it mightbe, how do you adapt to that
(08:17):
then? I'm I'm I'm trying to getmy head around it.
So how do you live in a we knowyou get on the front page of
Google, but how do you get inthe front response or prompt
answer of, AI? How do you dothat?
Jennifer Thompson (08:32):
I'm not a %.
Daniel Williams (08:34):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (08:34):
I can say that our best practice right now
is, you can optimize your metadescription so that you'll show
up when because, basically, AIis a giant search engine. It's
just scraping your head. Youoptimize optimize your meta
descriptions. You make sure thatyour website is, everything's in
the form of a question becausewe're asking in the form of a
question.
Daniel Williams (08:55):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (08:55):
And you need lots of FAQs. So lots of
frequently asked questions. Soif I go back and say, you know,
why does my why does why does myknee hurt, and do I need a a
joint replacement? Then I shouldhave an FAQ series on my long
form of 20 common questionsaround joint replacement and
knee pain so that I'm showing upon those snippets. And so it's
(09:17):
just changed the game.
We don't even know howreputation and directory
listings who are really the waywe've been getting to the front
page because it's how you get somuch juice, how those are gonna
be impacted by this either.Either. And so it's all tied
together. I mean, right now,it's literally like, hold on
because we're getting ready togo on the ride of our life like
we were, you know, way back inthe day when the Internet just
(09:37):
started.
Daniel Williams (09:38):
Right. That is so interesting. And it's so
interesting because at MGMA,we've been sitting here creating
500 page books and 3,000 wordarticles. And we went, wait a
minute. That doesn't mean wequit doing those things.
We still have those. But exactlywhat you're saying, what's a
(10:00):
tool? What is a checklist? Whatis a you name it. Something that
is five ways to do this.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
And it's not in the way that weused to do it where, oh, it's a
listicle or what. Not for thatpurpose, but we need something
that is solution based. And asyou're saying, it is being, I
(10:21):
guess, the algorithms arepicking it up as well or the
search engines are picking thatup. And is it important to have
that terminology FAQ? Is thatwhat it needs to have, or is it
serving the purpose no matterwhat you're calling it?
I guess that's what I'm tryingto get at. Does nomenclature
matter?
Jennifer Thompson (10:39):
I think it would be serving the purpose no
matter what, but just to covermy base, I'm gonna say
frequently asked questions.
Daniel Williams (10:45):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (10:45):
You know, parentheses FAQ. And and I
think, you know, it's still tooearly in the game.
Daniel Williams (10:50):
Yeah.
Jennifer Thompson (10:51):
But but I think it always goes back to you
know, this is anecdotal, but youjust seem to do a great job with
everything you do. And you needto do your best and put your
best foot forward. You need tohave a consistent content
strategy, a consistenteverything across the board.
And, you know, eventually, it'sall gonna weed itself out.
Because if you've been doing theright thing for ten years as a
(11:11):
practice, you're you know, yeah,you're gonna make some tweaks,
but you're still gonna show up.
It's not like somebody who justshowed up is gonna surpass you.
And so if you've been doing theright thing and being consistent
in your marketing, you should begood, but nobody knows what the
rule book is right now.
Daniel Williams (11:26):
Right. Okay. Well, let's let's go to Vegas
for a minute, Jennifer. Let'slet's go to Vegas because you're
gonna be talking about a lot ofthese topics at our operations
conference. This is gonna be socool.
We love that show, and we loveVegas. And so that's gonna be a
lot of fun. But just give us aglimpse of maybe the overarching
(11:50):
theme of your talk and if youwanna give us a little snippet
of a takeaway, some FAQ piecehere that we can walk away with.
Jennifer Thompson (11:59):
Yeah. Totally. So I have brought this
talk with I've got tons of realworld experience from clients
and things from in the trenches,and I always like to go back to
some data. So I've taken some,I've taken the most recent
patient experience report fromPress Ganey and the most recent
report, from stat on healthcarecare and AI. K.
(12:21):
And I've looked at the uniquechallenges that are being
presented and the pain points.And then I've taken real world
examples of things that you cando today or tomorrow in your
practice to specifically addressthose pain points. So, for
example, one of the easiestthings that you can do as a
practice, is appointmentreminders and please start doing
(12:45):
online scheduling. We know thatsixty one percent of patients
want a digital first experience.People want that ability to
schedule online.
And And so I've got some datathat I'll show at the conference
that it's a practice that I workwith who implemented online
scheduling, I don't know, threeyears ago. And in 2024, they saw
41,000 appointments scheduledonline, which was a 20% year
(13:08):
over year increase. That means41,000 fewer telephone calls.
Wow. So when you talk aboutburnout being that, like, that
talking point, that challenge,AI and automation can solve for
it.
So I hope in that talk at theops conference in Vegas to
really look at what the data istelling us about how people are
(13:28):
interacting with their healthcare providers and then showing
through real world examples howwe can use AI and automation,
not the fancy stuff down theroad, but the stuff that's
available right now to addressthose pain points.
Daniel Williams (13:40):
Okay. For that online scheduling, not to plug a
particular product, you can ifyou want, but is it through the
portal? Give us an idea of wherethis owns online scheduling
takes place.
Jennifer Thompson (13:52):
These guys are doing it through their EHR.
Daniel Williams (13:55):
Okay. And
Jennifer Thompson (13:56):
it is not a great solution, but it is a
solution. And
Daniel Williams (14:00):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (14:00):
Everybody has a solution available to them.
Sometimes it just feels like toomuch of a lift, but the data
supports going ahead and doingthe lift. Another thing that I'm
gonna share is I'm goingthrough, I got some use cases on
practices and, providers usingchatbots to communicate. Not
just chatbots to communicatewith patients, but chatbots to
(14:21):
build a referral relationshipsto the point that, you can get a
chatbot propped up in a matterof a couple of days. And it's
easy and it's inexpensive andit's low hanging fruit, but you
can put it roll it into apatient, either a patient
experience, strategy or you canroll it into a a physician
referral strategy.
Daniel Williams (14:41):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (14:42):
And, you know, it's a different way of
looking at it, but AI andautomation allows us to go after
it and do it very inexpensively.Some solutions are, like, you
know, something that, you know,it's daunting, but some are
just, like, inexpensive, youknow, duct tape solutions, but
they work.
Daniel Williams (14:56):
Mhmm. Yeah. You were talking about chatbots, and
one thing that I've noticed isit's not all chatbots are made
alike, but I've seen theprogression and the evolution of
them. Maybe many of ourlisteners will, be able to, feel
this, but my my daughter's incollege in California. And, you
(15:20):
know, Netflix used to leteverybody just share a
membership.
You know? You just log in, andnow you log in that's not your
address, and they go, hey. Isthis your new address? And so I
wanted to make sure she couldget it, so I I had to add a
family account where it paid alittle bit more, but I had to go
(15:41):
into a chatbot and talk to it.We talked back and forth by, you
know, texting for a couple ofquestions back and forth, and
then it realized it didn't justdo the thing where they answer
two questions and say, did Ianswer your question for you?
And I'm going, absolutely not.And I wanna throw my computer
through the window. Itrecognized that we had gotten to
(16:02):
this endpoint and said, I'mgonna connect you with a human
being now, and we're gonna talkthat out and get that done. I
was just amazed at how much ithad evolved. My mind keeps
getting blown by the evolutionof technology.
When you were doing your studyand doing the research through
Press Ganey and other places,what else has blown your mind,
(16:22):
that's going on right now aboutthings or how it's created an
entire revolution and anevolution of technology?
Jennifer Thompson (16:29):
One thing that is blowing my mind is that
I've seen some tools recentlywhere AI is your after hours
reception or your everydayreception.
Daniel Williams (16:41):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (16:41):
And AI through voice can have a
conversation with the patient,do the entire intake or the
scheduling and then the intakeprocess directly tied to the
EHR. And in some instances, whencare is delivered, like
follow-up care, you can bill forit. And so there's companies out
there just, like, blowing thisup. When you look at, another
(17:02):
thing that's just that's gettingme is so chat g b t just
released some new versions,which includes if you have it on
your phone, you can actuallyhave a conversation with chat
GBT and strategize. So I do itsometimes in my car, where I'm
just talking to chat GBT tryingto come up with solutions and
then asking it to tell me, youknow, what are my competitors
(17:25):
doing?
What is the doctor down thestreet doing? How could I do
this better? Can you provide mesome citations? You know, it's a
real human experience. So, yeah,I hear you.
Like, the chatbots have come along way. They're not perfect
because I'm doing one right now.It's a spreadsheet. I enter in
questions and answers. Thechatbot does it, but at least it
goes to the next step, and it iscrawling the Internet to also
(17:48):
provide solutions.
And then, like, directories. Ialways go back to, like, Google
directories and, you know, myGoogle My Business and my Apple
pages and my maps and all that.AI is able to cut the time where
that used to take maybe a fulltime person for a large practice
Daniel Williams (18:04):
Mhmm.
Jennifer Thompson (18:05):
And make this completely an automated process.
Really allowing you to get somegood data about your practice,
but keeping your listings cleanonline.
Daniel Williams (18:13):
Right.
Jennifer Thompson (18:13):
And we weren't able to do that just a
couple years ago.
Daniel Williams (18:17):
I love that. And this is what I keep hearing,
and it's what I'm hearing fromyou as well. In some cases, it
may take the place of some jobfunctions, but I'm not saying
the human being because a lot ofthe stuff that people in health
care are doing is thisrepetitive time based
administrative stuff that that'snot why they got into health
(18:37):
care and they just, I don'twanna be doing this stuff. And
if we can utilize these tools toget rid of doing some of the
stuff that we don't wanna bedoing, and then we can focus on
the stuff, one, we're good at,another, that we're passionate
about. I want you to talk aboutthat if you'd like.
Jennifer Thompson (18:54):
Yeah. I so so I have a a good group of
employees that work for me. And,you know, a lot of them didn't
wanna use AI at all. And I said,look. You know, AI will not
replace your job.
It is it's smart, but it's onlyas smart as the data that you've
got. So use it as an assistant.Use it as a way to be more
creative. To me, like, that'sthe way that we should be
(19:18):
leaning into AI. And I justthink there's so many
opportunities out there for usto take these tools to be better
and to do the things that thatfeed our souls.
Like, not that not thatspreadsheets and analytics is
gonna feed your soul, butthere's something fun about
elevating your math game
Daniel Williams (19:38):
Yeah.
Jennifer Thompson (19:38):
By dumping some spreadsheets into some
closed loop AI and having itidentify the trends for you so
that you can dive deep. Mhmm.And then when I'm presenting to
the doctors, I can say, well,look at all these trends, and
they're escalating to this, andthis is where the source was.
And that's all AI driven. Itjust makes your life so much
easier.
When your life's a littleeasier, it's a lot more fun.
Daniel Williams (19:57):
It it is. It is so much more fun. So final
question here then. If someone'sgetting started in AI in their
marketing, and you may havealready answered it, but what's
one simple thing they couldstart doing this week?
Jennifer Thompson (20:14):
I think if you're gonna do one thing, start
with appointment reminders. Youknow, from a patient experience
standpoint, you know, set up anSMS or an email appointment
reminders. It's gonna reduce noshows. It's going to help, you
know, free up staff. It's gonnalead to a better experience for
the patient.
Even if it's AI sending themthat or, you know, an automated
(20:35):
message, it's still a thoughtfulreminder because, you know, we
forget about things.
Daniel Williams (20:39):
Yeah.
Jennifer Thompson (20:40):
And then if there's one other thing, get a
chatbot on your website. Youknow, make it make because if
unless you're gonna make it sosimple to find everything, you
know, people are looking forhealth care after hours, you
know, on the weekends, things ofthat nature. You're not
necessarily open. Put a chatboton there to make it super
simple, and you could do that ina matter of a couple days.
There's no reason that weshouldn't be doing appointment
(21:01):
reminders in chatbots.
That's just like phase one.
Daniel Williams (21:03):
Yeah. I love that. Jennifer, I always have so
much fun talking to you, sothank you for joining us yet
again on the show.
Jennifer Thompson (21:11):
Thank you, and I will see you in Vegas.
Daniel Williams (21:13):
I cannot wait. So everybody just Alright,
Daniel. Yeah. This has beenJennifer Thompson. She is gonna
be speaking at that MGMAoperations conference.
She's gonna be talking on thetopic harnessing AI and
automation for next level healthcare. Her session is gonna be
Monday, March 3 in Vegas. Sountil then, thank all of you for
(21:33):
being MGMA podcast listeners.
Hi, everyone. Daniel Williams here, senior
editor at MGMA, host of the MGMAPodcast Network. We are back
with another MGMA Insightspodcast today, and we have a
repeat guest. I can't evenremember how many times we've
had this guest on here, but I'mso happy to welcome back to the
show, Jennifer Thompson.Jennifer is chief executive
(00:24):
officer of Insight MarketingGroup and just a really strong
partner with with MGMA,speaking, writing, providing
insights, everything you couldimagine, own marketing, your
medical practice.
Jennifer will be speaking at ourupcoming MGMA operations
conference in Las Vegas, andthat's that conference is gonna
(00:46):
be March. It's gonna be inVegas, so it's not too late to
sign up for that, everyone.Jennifer's gonna be speaking on
the topic of harnessing AI andautomation for next level health
care. Jennifer, welcome back tothe show.
Jennifer Thompson (01:01):
Thank you so much for having me, Daniel, and
I look forward to Las Vegas herein just a month or so.
Daniel Williams (01:07):
Vegas is a cool place. It's just different than
just about anywhere else in theworld. And I've got a lot of
things to talk to you about, butyou have an amazing year coming
up. So just share with ouraudience because a lot of them
know you and share a little bitabout what you're gonna be doing
in the year 2025.
Jennifer Thompson (01:28):
Yeah. Twenty twenty five is a big year for
me. So I'm turning 50. I'mactually turning 50 right around
the time that we're gonna be atthe conference. So it'll be,
like, right in my transitionaltime.
And then I'm, headed up inApril. I'm gonna make the drive
from Florida to Alaska, working,stopping and visiting some
clients, working along the way.And then I'm gonna be over at
the private practice conferencein the fall and then or in the
(01:51):
summer, and then I'm gonna headhome to Florida in the fall, and
then I've got a month in Italyplanned for my for my fiftieth
year.
Daniel Williams (01:59):
You and I were talking offline and went, wow. I
I got a new job when I turned50, but I didn't go to Alaska. I
didn't go to, Italy for a month.And and then you're traveling by
what what did you describe itas?
Jennifer Thompson (02:12):
Oh, yeah. I have I have an RV. I've I've
I've gone up since COVID. Istarted in a small one, got a
bigger one, and a bigger one,and I've got the whole thing
decked out with workspace,office space, great Internet.
So, know, it should be prettygood.
Daniel Williams (02:25):
That is so cool. Well, you're you're gonna
have to, like we're gonna we'regonna call you occasionally and
let you report from the road.It'll be Jennifer Thompson from
the road, and you can give amarketing report of what's going
on from parts unknown and partsthat you, land in. That's so
cool.
Jennifer Thompson (02:44):
Happy to do it. And I will tell you, before
we even get started, I have usedAI to help me with almost all of
my trip planning this yearbecause it's been so easy.
Daniel Williams (02:55):
Okay. Well, shameless plug, but what AI is
your favorite? What's your go tothat you use?
Jennifer Thompson (03:01):
I like them. I like there's quite a few. I
like the newer renditions ofChatGPT, but I really prefer to
do my research on perplexity andmy writing with Claude in
Grammarly.
Daniel Williams (03:13):
Okay. So cool. So cool. Because you're always
cutting edge. I mean, when I askyou a question about marketing,
I just and I have a degree inmarketing, but I never really
used it.
You know, one of those peoplethat gets the degree, does
something completely different.And, I'm just amazed because if
I had a medical practice, you'rewho I would go to to help me
(03:34):
market it. Yeah. So the this isthe interesting thing because I
know you are an innovator andyou're on the cutting edge of
things. I always know you as mygo to person to really map out a
plan on how to market thatpractice, how to, get that
retention, how to get brandingfront and center.
But you're speaking on AI. Sotalk about where you kinda
(03:57):
dipped the toe or dove headfirstinto the deep end on AI. Tell us
about that transformation.
Jennifer Thompson (04:03):
Well, I feel like it's been a lot of sink or
swim. Like, we're all kind offiguring it out as we go. But
plain and simple, like, when itcomes to marketing, you either
get on board the train, the AItrain and automation train, or
you get left at the station. Andso we talk about it kind of
twofold. One is we're allburnout.
Physicians are burnout. Staff isburnout. You know, in fact,
(04:26):
like, stat health care statreports came out with a report a
couple weeks ago about AI andand who's gonna be using it. And
then the numbers show thatalmost sixty percent of doctors
plan to use AI to deal withburnout and staff shortages, in
the next couple of years. Andthen you couple that with, like,
patient experience, which isreally what marketing is all
about, whether it's, you know,getting the patient or dealing
(04:48):
with the patient when they'rethere or post patient follow-up.
Well, you know, Press Ganey cameout with its new numbers, and
61% of people prefer thatdigital first experience. And so
AI helps kinda solve both ofthose problems. It says, let's
drill with deal with burnout,but let's also deal with, you
know, patient experience. AI andautomation is kind of that
intersection for for everything.So it's like either get on the
(05:10):
train or get left at thestation.
Daniel Williams (05:12):
Yeah. Wow. Okay. So how do you see
generative AI changing the waypractices create content and
connect with patients?
Jennifer Thompson (05:24):
It has completely changed things. So if
you think about it and this iswhat bothers me the most is that
for years, all we've done from amarketing perspective, not all,
but one of the major focuspoints from a marketing
perspective is just get yourpractice on the front page of
Google. I don't care if you getyourself there because of
organic traffic, if you do itthrough paid search, or if you
(05:45):
really focus on, like,reputation and directory
listings. Just own that frontpage. That's been the goal.
Well, now with AI, we're notusing Google like we used to.
Daniel Williams (05:56):
Yeah.
Jennifer Thompson (05:56):
In fact, I find myself doing it. I'm going
to chat GPT and asking itquestions that I would have
asked search. And so if youwanna talk about how AI is
upending the way we do marketingand from a content perspective,
that's the biggest change to meis that when we're writing
content, we're having to nowoptimize for Google or for
(06:17):
search, optimize for voice AI,like Alexa or Siri or whatever.
And then we're having tooptimize for all of, like, the
AI snippets that are showing up,you know, through Gemini or
through chat GPT or whatever,which means we're having to use
AI to help us rank for AI, whichis FAQs and things like that. So
let me throw out some moreacronyms.
(06:39):
FAQ, AI, you name it. But that'sto me, that's, like, the biggest
issue is I'm going backretroactively and changing all
the content on my client sites
Daniel Williams (06:49):
Right.
Jennifer Thompson (06:49):
To be optimized. We optimized years
ago for voice. We didn'toptimize for this latest change.
Okay. And when you're lookingat, like, the press gaining
numbers from 2023 for theirpatient experience survey, and
you're seeing that Googlestarted losing market share from
a search standpoint on wherepeople are finding their doctor,
Well, it's that's beenaccelerated probably tenfold
(07:11):
since CHAT g p t came out andall the new renditions of Gen AI
came out.
And so really gonna start payingattention to that, but we can
use AI as kind of thatassistant, that helper, you
know, from a creative creativitystandpoint. But there's some
real numbers that are impactingthe way we market our practices,
and I would say that starts withthe way that search is happening
now.
Daniel Williams (07:30):
Okay. I've gotta stay with this topic.
You're blowing my mind a littlebit because we had you write a
chapter in the advancedstrategies book for medical
practice leaders talking aboutmarketing the practice. And I've
known you now going on, I don'tmaybe four, five, six years.
It's been a minute.
And I'm you exactly what yousaid is what I have heard from
(07:53):
you and from others. Get on thatfront page of Google. Everything
else will figure that out, butyou gotta get there so you come
up in that search. How if you'resaying that people are reaching
their doctors or whateverthey're doing, you, planning out
your travel, whatever it mightbe, how do you adapt to that
(08:17):
then? I'm I'm I'm trying to getmy head around it.
So how do you live in a we knowyou get on the front page of
Google, but how do you get inthe front response or prompt
answer of, AI? How do you dothat?
Jennifer Thompson (08:32):
I'm not a %.
Daniel Williams (08:34):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (08:34):
I can say that our best practice right now
is, you can optimize your metadescription so that you'll show
up when because, basically, AIis a giant search engine. It's
just scraping your head. Youoptimize optimize your meta
descriptions. You make sure thatyour website is, everything's in
the form of a question becausewe're asking in the form of a
question.
Daniel Williams (08:55):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (08:55):
And you need lots of FAQs. So lots of
frequently asked questions. Soif I go back and say, you know,
why does my why does why does myknee hurt, and do I need a a
joint replacement? Then I shouldhave an FAQ series on my long
form of 20 common questionsaround joint replacement and
knee pain so that I'm showing upon those snippets. And so it's
(09:17):
just changed the game.
We don't even know howreputation and directory
listings who are really the waywe've been getting to the front
page because it's how you get somuch juice, how those are gonna
be impacted by this either.Either. And so it's all tied
together. I mean, right now,it's literally like, hold on
because we're getting ready togo on the ride of our life like
we were, you know, way back inthe day when the Internet just
(09:37):
started.
Daniel Williams (09:38):
Right. That is so interesting. And it's so
interesting because at MGMA,we've been sitting here creating
500 page books and 3,000 wordarticles. And we went, wait a
minute. That doesn't mean wequit doing those things.
We still have those. But exactlywhat you're saying, what's a
(10:00):
tool? What is a checklist? Whatis a you name it. Something that
is five ways to do this.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
And it's not in the way that weused to do it where, oh, it's a
listicle or what. Not for thatpurpose, but we need something
that is solution based. And asyou're saying, it is being, I
(10:21):
guess, the algorithms arepicking it up as well or the
search engines are picking thatup. And is it important to have
that terminology FAQ? Is thatwhat it needs to have, or is it
serving the purpose no matterwhat you're calling it?
I guess that's what I'm tryingto get at. Does nomenclature
matter?
Jennifer Thompson (10:39):
I think it would be serving the purpose no
matter what, but just to covermy base, I'm gonna say
frequently asked questions.
Daniel Williams (10:45):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (10:45):
You know, parentheses FAQ. And and I
think, you know, it's still tooearly in the game.
Daniel Williams (10:50):
Yeah.
Jennifer Thompson (10:51):
But but I think it always goes back to you
know, this is anecdotal, but youjust seem to do a great job with
everything you do. And you needto do your best and put your
best foot forward. You need tohave a consistent content
strategy, a consistenteverything across the board.
And, you know, eventually, it'sall gonna weed itself out.
Because if you've been doing theright thing for ten years as a
(11:11):
practice, you're you know, yeah,you're gonna make some tweaks,
but you're still gonna show up.
It's not like somebody who justshowed up is gonna surpass you.
And so if you've been doing theright thing and being consistent
in your marketing, you should begood, but nobody knows what the
rule book is right now.
Daniel Williams (11:26):
Right. Okay. Well, let's let's go to Vegas
for a minute, Jennifer. Let'slet's go to Vegas because you're
gonna be talking about a lot ofthese topics at our operations
conference. This is gonna be socool.
We love that show, and we loveVegas. And so that's gonna be a
lot of fun. But just give us aglimpse of maybe the overarching
(11:50):
theme of your talk and if youwanna give us a little snippet
of a takeaway, some FAQ piecehere that we can walk away with.
Jennifer Thompson (11:59):
Yeah. Totally. So I have brought this
talk with I've got tons of realworld experience from clients
and things from in the trenches,and I always like to go back to
some data. So I've taken some,I've taken the most recent
patient experience report fromPress Ganey and the most recent
report, from stat on healthcarecare and AI. K.
(12:21):
And I've looked at the uniquechallenges that are being
presented and the pain points.And then I've taken real world
examples of things that you cando today or tomorrow in your
practice to specifically addressthose pain points. So, for
example, one of the easiestthings that you can do as a
practice, is appointmentreminders and please start doing
(12:45):
online scheduling. We know thatsixty one percent of patients
want a digital first experience.People want that ability to
schedule online.
And And so I've got some datathat I'll show at the conference
that it's a practice that I workwith who implemented online
scheduling, I don't know, threeyears ago. And in 2024, they saw
41,000 appointments scheduledonline, which was a 20% year
(13:08):
over year increase. That means41,000 fewer telephone calls.
Wow. So when you talk aboutburnout being that, like, that
talking point, that challenge,AI and automation can solve for
it.
So I hope in that talk at theops conference in Vegas to
really look at what the data istelling us about how people are
(13:28):
interacting with their healthcare providers and then showing
through real world examples howwe can use AI and automation,
not the fancy stuff down theroad, but the stuff that's
available right now to addressthose pain points.
Daniel Williams (13:40):
Okay. For that online scheduling, not to plug a
particular product, you can ifyou want, but is it through the
portal? Give us an idea of wherethis owns online scheduling
takes place.
Jennifer Thompson (13:52):
These guys are doing it through their EHR.
Daniel Williams (13:55):
Okay. And
Jennifer Thompson (13:56):
it is not a great solution, but it is a
solution. And
Daniel Williams (14:00):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (14:00):
Everybody has a solution available to them.
Sometimes it just feels like toomuch of a lift, but the data
supports going ahead and doingthe lift. Another thing that I'm
gonna share is I'm goingthrough, I got some use cases on
practices and, providers usingchatbots to communicate. Not
just chatbots to communicatewith patients, but chatbots to
(14:21):
build a referral relationshipsto the point that, you can get a
chatbot propped up in a matterof a couple of days. And it's
easy and it's inexpensive andit's low hanging fruit, but you
can put it roll it into apatient, either a patient
experience, strategy or you canroll it into a a physician
referral strategy.
Daniel Williams (14:41):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (14:42):
And, you know, it's a different way of
looking at it, but AI andautomation allows us to go after
it and do it very inexpensively.Some solutions are, like, you
know, something that, you know,it's daunting, but some are
just, like, inexpensive, youknow, duct tape solutions, but
they work.
Daniel Williams (14:56):
Mhmm. Yeah. You were talking about chatbots, and
one thing that I've noticed isit's not all chatbots are made
alike, but I've seen theprogression and the evolution of
them. Maybe many of ourlisteners will, be able to, feel
this, but my my daughter's incollege in California. And, you
(15:20):
know, Netflix used to leteverybody just share a
membership.
You know? You just log in, andnow you log in that's not your
address, and they go, hey. Isthis your new address? And so I
wanted to make sure she couldget it, so I I had to add a
family account where it paid alittle bit more, but I had to go
(15:41):
into a chatbot and talk to it.We talked back and forth by, you
know, texting for a couple ofquestions back and forth, and
then it realized it didn't justdo the thing where they answer
two questions and say, did Ianswer your question for you?
And I'm going, absolutely not.And I wanna throw my computer
through the window. Itrecognized that we had gotten to
(16:02):
this endpoint and said, I'mgonna connect you with a human
being now, and we're gonna talkthat out and get that done. I
was just amazed at how much ithad evolved. My mind keeps
getting blown by the evolutionof technology.
When you were doing your studyand doing the research through
Press Ganey and other places,what else has blown your mind,
(16:22):
that's going on right now aboutthings or how it's created an
entire revolution and anevolution of technology?
Jennifer Thompson (16:29):
One thing that is blowing my mind is that
I've seen some tools recentlywhere AI is your after hours
reception or your everydayreception.
Daniel Williams (16:41):
Okay.
Jennifer Thompson (16:41):
And AI through voice can have a
conversation with the patient,do the entire intake or the
scheduling and then the intakeprocess directly tied to the
EHR. And in some instances, whencare is delivered, like
follow-up care, you can bill forit. And so there's companies out
there just, like, blowing thisup. When you look at, another
(17:02):
thing that's just that's gettingme is so chat g b t just
released some new versions,which includes if you have it on
your phone, you can actuallyhave a conversation with chat
GBT and strategize. So I do itsometimes in my car, where I'm
just talking to chat GBT tryingto come up with solutions and
then asking it to tell me, youknow, what are my competitors
(17:25):
doing?
What is the doctor down thestreet doing? How could I do
this better? Can you provide mesome citations? You know, it's a
real human experience. So, yeah,I hear you.
Like, the chatbots have come along way. They're not perfect
because I'm doing one right now.It's a spreadsheet. I enter in
questions and answers. Thechatbot does it, but at least it
goes to the next step, and it iscrawling the Internet to also
(17:48):
provide solutions.
And then, like, directories. Ialways go back to, like, Google
directories and, you know, myGoogle My Business and my Apple
pages and my maps and all that.AI is able to cut the time where
that used to take maybe a fulltime person for a large practice
Daniel Williams (18:04):
Mhmm.
Jennifer Thompson (18:05):
And make this completely an automated process.
Really allowing you to get somegood data about your practice,
but keeping your listings cleanonline.
Daniel Williams (18:13):
Right.
Jennifer Thompson (18:13):
And we weren't able to do that just a
couple years ago.
Daniel Williams (18:17):
I love that. And this is what I keep hearing,
and it's what I'm hearing fromyou as well. In some cases, it
may take the place of some jobfunctions, but I'm not saying
the human being because a lot ofthe stuff that people in health
care are doing is thisrepetitive time based
administrative stuff that that'snot why they got into health
(18:37):
care and they just, I don'twanna be doing this stuff. And
if we can utilize these tools toget rid of doing some of the
stuff that we don't wanna bedoing, and then we can focus on
the stuff, one, we're good at,another, that we're passionate
about. I want you to talk aboutthat if you'd like.
Jennifer Thompson (18:54):
Yeah. I so so I have a a good group of
employees that work for me. And,you know, a lot of them didn't
wanna use AI at all. And I said,look. You know, AI will not
replace your job.
It is it's smart, but it's onlyas smart as the data that you've
got. So use it as an assistant.Use it as a way to be more
creative. To me, like, that'sthe way that we should be
(19:18):
leaning into AI. And I justthink there's so many
opportunities out there for usto take these tools to be better
and to do the things that thatfeed our souls.
Like, not that not thatspreadsheets and analytics is
gonna feed your soul, butthere's something fun about
elevating your math game
Daniel Williams (19:38):
Yeah.
Jennifer Thompson (19:38):
By dumping some spreadsheets into some
closed loop AI and having itidentify the trends for you so
that you can dive deep. Mhmm.And then when I'm presenting to
the doctors, I can say, well,look at all these trends, and
they're escalating to this, andthis is where the source was.
And that's all AI driven. Itjust makes your life so much
easier.
When your life's a littleeasier, it's a lot more fun.
Daniel Williams (19:57):
It it is. It is so much more fun. So final
question here then. If someone'sgetting started in AI in their
marketing, and you may havealready answered it, but what's
one simple thing they couldstart doing this week?
Jennifer Thompson (20:14):
I think if you're gonna do one thing, start
with appointment reminders. Youknow, from a patient experience
standpoint, you know, set up anSMS or an email appointment
reminders. It's gonna reduce noshows. It's going to help, you
know, free up staff. It's gonnalead to a better experience for
the patient.
Even if it's AI sending themthat or, you know, an automated
(20:35):
message, it's still a thoughtfulreminder because, you know, we
forget about things.
Daniel Williams (20:39):
Yeah.
Jennifer Thompson (20:40):
And then if there's one other thing, get a
chatbot on your website. Youknow, make it make because if
unless you're gonna make it sosimple to find everything, you
know, people are looking forhealth care after hours, you
know, on the weekends, things ofthat nature. You're not
necessarily open. Put a chatboton there to make it super
simple, and you could do that ina matter of a couple days.
There's no reason that weshouldn't be doing appointment
(21:01):
reminders in chatbots.
That's just like phase one.
Daniel Williams (21:03):
Yeah. I love that. Jennifer, I always have so
much fun talking to you, sothank you for joining us yet
again on the show.
Jennifer Thompson (21:11):
Thank you, and I will see you in Vegas.
Daniel Williams (21:13):
I cannot wait. So everybody just Alright,
Daniel. Yeah. This has beenJennifer Thompson. She is gonna
be speaking at that MGMAoperations conference.
She's gonna be talking on thetopic harnessing AI and
automation for next level healthcare. Her session is gonna be
Monday, March 3 in Vegas. Sountil then, thank all of you for
(21:33):
being MGMA podcast listeners.
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