How To: Raise Visibility With Referring Physicians

Recent SVS research of referring physicians found that they typically refer cases needing less invasive, endovascular procedures to specialties other than vascular surgery. Referring physicians seem largely unaware of the spectrum of treatments offered by vascular surgeons, and think of others first for less invasive treatments. They say they want more one-on-one contact with their local vascular surgeon.

SVS members have access to instructions and materials to use in branding their practice and their skills to their referring physicians. The materials are located in the Branding Toolkit for Referring Physicians in the Members Only section of VascularWeb.org. They include:

1. Send a letter of introduction. Include the Partners brochure that addresses the misinformation referring physicians have about vascular surgeons. The sample letter may be edited and sent with the Partners brochure.

2. Host a dinner for referring physicians. Timelines, guidelines, and sample materials are available in the toolkit.

3. Offer vascular health articles for referring physicians to publish in their newsletters. The toolkit includes a series of articles SVS members may personalize and offer to their referring physicians to educate their patients about vascular health.

4. Provide referring physicians with Patient Education brochures. The series of brochures are in both English and Spanish and include topics on abdominal aortic aneurysm, carotid arterial disease, peripheral arterial disease, and the AAA Medicare benefit.

If you have questions about any of these materials please e-mail the SVS at communications@vascularsociety.org.