Getting Leading Physicians Active on this Forum

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Recently there was a topic, " NYC doc ??“ Feller or Dorin? ", that started with a patient asking for suggestions for quality physicians in New York. When two clinics offering hair transplant services in the New York area posted on this topic, a heated debate emerged about the role physicians and their staff should play in responding to such "who's best" topics.

 

Should clinics make a case for themselves by jumping into these topics or should such topics be discussed by only hair loss sufferers? And in general, should physicians themselves be posting patient results on the forum or should such patient results be posted only by the patients themselves?

 

For years I have been encouraging all leading physicians to get actively involved with this forum community by providing expert replies to patient questions and by sharing examples of their work. Unfortunately, most physicians do not have the time or inclination to participate on the forums.

 

So despite being invited to the banquette only a few show up. The few top clinics who show up then enjoy the benefits of enhanced positive visibility and generally end up being on most patients short list, while the other are out of sight and out of mind.

 

While Hasson and Wong, the Shapiro Medical Group and Dr. Feller all do outstanding work they also all have staff members who regularly share their work. Is it any wonder that they end up on many peoples top five short list?

 

Some physicians like Dr. Epstein believe that patient photo albums should predominantly come from their patients voluntarily posting them. However, Dr. Epstein has provided a wealthy of impressive photos on his Coalition profile and on his website. So his results are not hard to find. I can sympathize with this philosophy.

 

However, those physicians who rely only on their patients to post photo albums will be at a competitive disadvantage on this and other forums when compared to the clinics that actively post their patient results.

 

In short, it's hard for patients to make fair comparisons when many outstanding clinics do not actively make a showing on the forum. So while the playing field may be level, too many of the players are not on the field.

 

This situation has concerned me for a long time. I have been considering offering a lower membership fee for clinics who actively participate on this forum. Thus those who show up will not only reap the accolades and patients but deep discounts.

 

I have found that far too many doctors will not embrace a million dollar idea, but they will scramble for even a small discount. Sorry docs, but I'm not the first to notice that you're much better at helping patients than being business people.

 

Any ideas on how to get more physicians actively involved in a positive way on this forum are welcome.

 

Onwards and Upwards, Pat

[Guest]

your precision is interesting.

in effect the big names of occupations wich return systematically in the "top 5" have result naturally of very good and a blameless technology but others less in light can have perhaps an identical working quality.

i use it to signal that i'm going to meet the dr devroye on may 9th for a first visit to know what to make for my nw5.

(sorry for my errors of language but i'm french!)

[Pat - Community Publisher]

napoleon.76,

 

Dr. DeVroye in Belgium is an excellent example of a physician who's clinic does superb work that is rarely featured on the forums.

 

I encourage you to view the highlights from my visit to his clinic .

 

You will be in excellent hands with him.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Pat,

 

Now that I have joined you in this expedition, I have quickly learned how difficult it is to get physicians to get more involved in our community. Many have expressed interest, but turning interest into action is often times like drawing blood from a stone.

 

I think potentially offering those clinics who are willing to get involved more regularly a small discount might be beneficial. I think if we do this, we ought to set criteria and work out a system to monitor it to ensure they are doing all that is required to get and keep the discount.

 

Those physicians who get involved can then receive the discount, but more importantly, increase their online visibility. This will show prospective seeking patients that other quality physicians do exist. This will also help our community regularly evaluate physician work to ensure they continue to meet our high level of standards.

 

In my opinion however, though I strongly agree with encouraging clinical input, I still feel that the very specific "who's best" topics are left better answered by hair loss sufferers rather clinics to preserve the educational aspect of the community and to minimize the urge for clinics to compete against one another for prospective patients.

 

In my opinion, clinical involvement is at it's best when they do the following:

 

1) Answer general hair loss and hair transplant related qauestions

2) Answer specific questions about their clinic when asked

3) Post continual examples of recent patient results

 

In my opinion, this will preserve the educational aspect of this community without balding men and women feel that they are being pressured by clinics to select them.

 

Though I don't feel that we ought to enforce a rule, as long as physicians and consultants show respect to one another and patient education and assistance their primary goal, their input will be of great value to this patient based community.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

napoleon.76,

 

I agree 100% with Pat. You will be in great hands with Dr. DeVroye. See also my response to you on your original thread.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[PLEASE GROW PLEASE]

I would never pay for a gym membership,and never use the facility.

I geuss doctors dont understand the power of the internet.

When I first came on here I found a coaltion doctor in my state. I ended up with Shapiro instead because I could not find any photos from the first doc but found tons from Shapiro.

So basically his membership meant nothing to men and I was steered to Shapiros because of photos and an online presence

[dakota3]

How do you think most of us come up w/ our "top 5"! It's all about branding! It's too bad, but thats the nature of the beast.

[Dewayne]

Originally posted by PLEASE GROW PLEASE:

I would never pay for a gym membership,and never use the facility.

I geuss doctors dont understand the power of the internet.

When I first came on here I found a coaltion doctor in my state. I ended up with Shapiro instead because I could not find any photos from the first doc but found tons from Shapiro.

So basically his membership meant nothing to men and I was steered to Shapiros because of photos and an online presence

 

I would say most of them have a different view, and since there are pictures already posted under the "over 500 photos" section including all coalition docs, they think that is sufficient. My doc's post-op sheets had a link to this site asking me to post my pictures, so obviously they depend on patients.

 

But, you're right it is a powerful marketing tool but I doubt many of the good ones are starving for business.

[Gorpy]

This is actually a difficult issue. There are many factors to consider. First of all, let it be understood that it is possible for a doctor to be too busy to post on the web. Doctors can and are involved in many things outside of the surgery room, like research, focus groups, writing for medical journals and God forbid - a social life.

 

Over the several years that I have been involved in this forum it has been blatantly obvious that some doctors have seen it as a powerful and relatively cheap marketing tool. No doubt it is. The problem arises when the forum becomes dominated by the marketeers. Let's face it. When that happens, it loses some of the pureness of being a patient driven forum.

 

Some doctors have come to this forum to add educational value. That is much appreciated. I love to see the doctors discuss technical issues. Others just post pictures in an obvious attempt to drum up more business. Let me give you an example. I consulted with several doctors before my transplant. About a year after my procedure one of the doctors called me asking if I was ready to do it. That doctor had very little presence at the time on this forum. Soon afterwards I was seeing numerous postings of results from the doctor. Hmmm... I have to ask myself - was business down a little for this doctor? BTW - business seems to be way up for this doctor now, so yes, it is a great marketing tool.

 

Also, there is so much childish banter on this forum, most doctors just don't want to get involved in that kind of nonsense.

 

So, what to do? You either, join the club, hire a promotional consultant or do it yourself and reap the benefits. Or you simply remain in the background quietly and consistently doing quality work. I think some doctors feel that self-promotion and/or hiring a promotional consultant is akin to selling out to the dark side. It has a kind of used car salesman type of feeling associated with it.

 

It is a bit of a dilemma isn't it?

[PLEASE GROW PLEASE]

So, what to do? You either, join the club, hire a promotional consultant or do it yourself and reap the benefits. Or you simply remain in the background quietly and consistently doing quality work

 

Or you just call up potential patients when things are slow and hope they will come.

This cheap marketing tool keeps some of these doctors working everyday, opposed to flying everywhere ,offering 2.50 a graft ,and calling everyone that consulted at one time.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Gorpy,

 

You make some excellent points and some that I've been wrestling with for years (even before I became the Associate Publisher). I strongly want to preserve this community as patient driven and don't want to see it become overrun by consultants and physicians. I also want to preserve the educational aspect and minimize promotion.

 

On the other hand, our physicians and consultants play an important role in our community and add significant value by answering general hair loss and hair transplant related questions, specific clinical questions, and posting patient photos. Though posting patient photos on our forum is somewhat promotional, it is also educational. Patient members often come here and ask about specific recommended or Coalition surgeons in their area, and in many cases, can't find a lot of information posted about them.

 

In an ideal world, all clinics would involve themselves at least a little bit but strongly encourage their patients to get involved here and post their results and photos. This will help preserve the patient community while physicians still acquire additional online visibility.

 

One idea I was toying with was creating a "hair transplant doctor to patient photo album" section where we can encourage all of our clinics to post patient photo albums but not clutter the patient posted photo albums by keeping them separate. It would still be a valuable resource for patients to view and participate, interact with, and ask questions about the physician posted album, but patients can separate themselves out by posting their own in the "hair transplant patient photo album" section. However, I'm not sure that this is the perfect solution either.

 

I agree that it's quite a dilemma, and I'm not sure that we will ever find a perfect solution, but hopefully one that at least improves the online visibility of our clinics while preserving this patient based educational community.

 

Thanks for your valuable insight.

 

Bill

[HairDew]

Good Points Bill!

 

I think (and I know my opinion is worth very little) doctors SHOULD have their own forum where they can post photos of their patients. Self promoting? Sure! but still it is a good incentive for them to post here.

 

Obviously any NON-coalition doctor with sub-par results will probably post one of their best results BUT....combine that with photos with real patients and I think you can make your informative decision easier.

 

Just my $0.02

[Bill - Seemiller]

and I know my opinion is worth very little

 

HairDew,

 

I hope you don't generally have that low of an opinion of yourself . Your opinion is worth a lot! Thanks for sharing it

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

I also posted this on the topic that Pat referenced above, but felt compelled to post it here as well:

 

-----------------

 

Dear forum members,

 

The difficulty we face is maintaining a delicate balance between running an open discussion forum and keeping it from becoming strictly promotional. Where should the line be drawn if one should be drawn at all?

 

On one hand I firmly believe that clinics who get involved online are an asset to this community. I also have no problem with promotion as long as honest results and information is being shared. After all, patients are seeking information and want to see real results.

 

But is there a point where too much clinical involvement will overrun patient involvement? Do we want a patient driven community or one that is dominated by clinics? How can we maintain a delicate balance between them to be fair both to our recommended clinics and patients?

 

I have tried to help maintain this balance by asking physicians and clinics to stay clear of "who is best" type threads. Though some agreed with this, others did not. And in the interest of keeping things as open as possible to everyone, I have lifted the rule.

 

At the same time, in my opinion, it is in poor taste to promote on these types of threads for a number of reasons. One, it may drive doctors to feel that they must compete against one another for patients which can lead to a lack of respect for one another, and two which in my opinion is even worse, the prospective patient is forgotten and lost.

 

Case in point, what ever happened "kiss" who started this thread? Has he been completely forgotten? I'd love to hear from him as to whether or not this thread has been helpful or harmful to his research.

 

Generally speaking, I don't think there is a perfect answer to this conundrum. So for now, I encourage doctors and consultants to feel free to post, but do so in the interest of patient education first and foremost with promotion as a natural and be respectful to your peers.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[HairDew]

Originally posted by Bill:

and I know my opinion is worth very little

 

HairDew,

 

I hope you don't generally have that low of an opinion of yourself . Your opinion is worth a lot! Thanks for sharing it

 

Bill

No, of course not Bill I'm generally a very LIFE LOVING person. Does hairloss bother me a lot? Of course it does. But I don't think I'm the kind of person to be bother to extent of suicide etc.

 

I was just referring to the fact that I MYSELF had not had HT done so I can't really comment from my OWN experience. But I still think potential Newbies like myself can benefit from 2 sides of the ocean (Patient/Doctor pic results)

 

[hairthere]

i don't think you all are giving enough credit to the patient/consumer. if a "who's best" type post comes up and a doc/clinic answers by showing results there should be no real problem. the propsective patient is either impressed or not. take dr. deyarman for example: he posted results and many of us were clearly unimpressed. it may have raised his online visibility, but in a negative way. i agree that it would be nice if more docs became involved, but it's unlikely and i don't think docs who are more active should be prohibited from showcasing their work: let the consumer decide.