The healthcare practice marketing stack: what to keep, what to cut and what to connect
Key takeaways
- List every tool with its cost, its job and whether the vendor signs a business associate agreement.
- Cut tools that do the same job. Connect the rest so a patient's source reaches your schedule.
- Keep ad pixels off any page where a patient logs in, books or shares health details.
Say your practice pays for 11 marketing tools.
A website builder. Two review tools, one of them forgotten. A texting app. An email platform. Call tracking. A chat widget. Online scheduling. A social media scheduler. A reputation dashboard. A reporting tool.
Together they cost $3,400 a month. That is $40,800 a year.
Now ask one question. Which of those tools knows that a new patient who clicked a Google ad on Monday came in on Thursday and paid?
In most practices, none of them.
Each tool does its own job. None of them talks to the others, or to your practice management or EHR system, which is where the real answer lives.
Privacy is part of the stack
Healthcare has a rule most industries don't. What a patient does on your site can be protected health information.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published guidance on online tracking technologies for HIPAA covered entities. It says tracking tools on pages where patients log in, such as a patient portal, generally have access to protected health information. In June 2024, a federal court vacated one part of that guidance, about certain public pages, and HHS notes the ruling at the top of the same page.
The rule we hold for marketing is simple. No ad pixels on any page where a patient logs in, books or enters health details. A signed business associate agreement, or BAA, from any vendor that touches patient information. Your compliance counsel signs off on the setup before anything goes live.
I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice. My team holds this line with every practice before any tracking goes live.
The excuse: "Switching is too painful"
Every tool has a champion on the team and a login nobody wants to change.
Cancelling a tool you don't need takes an afternoon. Keeping it costs you every month, and every extra tool is one more place patient data can leak.
Keep, cut, connect
- List every tool. Name, monthly cost, the job it does, who logs in and whether the vendor signs a BAA. Work from your card and bank statements so nothing hides.
- Map the patient's path. Search, website, call or booking, practice management or EHR, first visit, return visits. Put every tool on the step it serves.
- Cut the doubles. Two tools doing the same job means one goes. A tool with no job on the path goes too.
- Connect what's left. Call tracking with a BAA. Scheduling that writes to your practice management or EHR system. The marketing source captured at booking and stored with the appointment.
- Name one owner. One person approves every new tool, keeps the list current and checks for a BAA before anything goes live.
One healthcare practice my team and I worked with grew to 16 locations. Every location you add multiplies the stack, so clean it up while it is small.
Frequently asked questions.
What marketing tools does a healthcare practice need?
One tool per step of the patient's path: a fast website, call tracking, online scheduling connected to your practice management or EHR system, a texting and email platform for reminders and recalls, a review tool and a way to report new patients by source. Anything that touches patient information should come from a vendor that signs a BAA.
What is a business associate agreement in marketing?
A business associate agreement, or BAA, is a contract HIPAA requires between a covered entity, such as a practice, and a vendor that handles protected health information on its behalf. In marketing, that often includes call tracking, scheduling, texting and email tools. If a vendor won't sign one, keep patient information away from it.
How can a practice track which ads bring new patients without sharing patient data?
Capture the marketing source at the point of booking with tracking numbers and booking tools from vendors that sign a BAA, store it with the appointment in your own systems, and report new patients by source in aggregate. Keep ad pixels off portal, booking and intake pages, and have your compliance counsel review the setup.