Health care looks to internet advertising
New private practices and hospitals across the country are looking for ways to make their presence known and bring in more patients, industry figures said.
"All marketing must include the internet," said Andrzej Krysztofek, deputy director of technical affairs for the Central Clinical Hospital at the Medical Academy in Warsaw (www.amwaw.edu.pl).
For medical professionals, using the internet as a means of self-promotion is hit or miss. Although a February Omnibus report states that about 15% of the population has web access, that number refers only to those who actually use the internet.
Pediatrician Katarzyna Kowalska said that while the number of her patients may have increased "a little bit" thanks to her web page, which she obtained for free, she did not believe the page was helpful overall "because people don't search for doctors on the internet."
Most practitioners on the internet are private specialists in larger urban areas, since "the more patients (a private practitioner) sees, the more he earns," said Piotr Rapiejko, director of the Allergen Research Center (www.lekarz.net). General practitioners aren't as likely to adopt the practice, since many work in state institutions and receive the same salary regardless of how many patients they see.
Larger institutions appear to have more luck attracting clients through the net. "We have more customers thanks to the internet," said one woman at the Damian Health Center, who asked not to be identified.
Tomasz Waledziak, marketing specialist for the Poznan-based Korvita hospital, said he believed the hospital definitely had more patients due to its web presence, although he could not give a number. "There are signals that someone is looking at our pages," he said, adding that many of Korvita's patients are upper middle class, able to afford private medical care and more likely to use the internet.
The internet's debatable effectiveness has not stopped institutions and practitioners from continuing to announce or advertise their services on the web. In the course of a week www.lekarz.net, which allows viewers to select physicians in different cities and voivodships, can receive up to 60 requests from doctors asking for their information to be posted.
While medical professionals do not have to pay to have their information placed on the site, they do require a stamp from authorities testifying to what they do. "Every page is confirmed," said Rapiejko, who warned that medical professionals do not always offer the services they advertise.
