OptiCall\’s State of the Industry Address: 2014/15 Edition

Well it\’s that time year again. Time to review all that was, is and will be for our industry. Some good, some bad, but all of it relevant. Afterwards, we\’ll make some predictions about what this all means.

Our qualifier plug: OptiCall is in an advantageous spot to provide marketplace analysis, having handled over 100,000 elective medical phone calls in 2014 alone. So we have a pretty good pulse and perspective on the nationwide heath and trends of our industry.

Overall, 2014 was a good year. All indications have shown a continuation of the economic rebound, and consumer confidence is creeping towards pre-recession levels. As many of you may know, nationwide elective medical procedure volume correlates directly to the CC Index. When confidence is up, more people seek our services.

This is something we have seen across the industry, with overall practice volume on the up-rise and clients across the board reporting an increase in volume and ASP (average surgery price).

Here\’s to hoping everyone reading saw a generous rebound this past year. Hopefully this trend will continue in 2015, and there are no immediate signs to the contrary, especially with gas prices having dropped to low\’s not seen in over a decade.

Some interesting trends we observed:

1. Overall booked appointments were up almost 10% compared to 2013, however total call volume was DOWN. How come?

2. Word of mouth referrals for new appointments were up significantly over the previous year, to the tune of 17%.

3. Internet leads actually DECREASED for the first time in years. We\’ll study why.

As always, OptiCall normally uses this detailed information for practice analysis and feedback on an individual level, but looking at it from a macro level provides some interesting generalities that we all should benefit from.

Click here to take the dive.