Patient Recruitment

Patient recruitment is an important part of establishing and running a successful LAP-BAND^® System practice. According to recent market research conducted by Allergan, patient referrals account for the majority of new patients.¹ Identifying and developing your referral network is a one of the best ways to recruit new patients.

Developing a referral network

Because patient referrals account for so many new patients, it is important to analyze your referral network and understand:

• Who they are
• How they can best be reached
• How often they refer patients
• Under what circumstances they refer patients

Healthcare professionals in your network of referring physicians typically include:

• General practitioners
• Internists
• ObGyns
• Cardiologists
• Endocrinologists

Allergan supplies the tools you need

As part of Allergan’s commitment to your successful integration of the LAP-BAND^® System into your practice, we offer the information, tools, and resources you will need to develop your referral network. Available resources include:

• Surgeon locator and profiles
• eCRM Program
• LAP-BAND^® Journey
• Lap-BandLink™ Patient Care Network
• Allergan Access

There are many advantages to joining the Lap-BandLink™ Patient Care Network. A few of the key benefits are outlined below.

• Differentiate yourself from other bariatric surgeons. When a physician is looking for a bariatric surgeon to recommend to their patient they will be able to see how many other physicians have referred their patients to you through lapband.com. When a physician sees that a large number of physicians are linked to you, they may be more likely to contact you on behalf of their patients. You also have the ability to provide more information about the services that you offer to patients that differentiate you from other practices.
• Send messages to members of your network through LAP-BAND Central. You can easily connect with the physicians in your network by clicking on their names to send them an email. You can even send groups emails. Consider Lap-BandLink™ Patient Care Network as an email database of your LAP-BAND network connections. You won’t have to look up anyone’s address of phone number because they’ll all be stored in your member network.
• Manage your network so it reflects the contacts and information that are important to you. Track and manage your existing network and expand it by sending link requests to additional physicians that you would like to include in your network. Review the link requests you’ve sent and check the link requests that have been sent to you from physicians. You can send a link request to any physician you’d like to add to your network, even if they aren’t registered on the LAP-BAND referring physician website. Use the handy Note tool to jot down pertinent information about physicians in your network.

Allergan, Inc. also helps both patients and referring physicians find a surgeon through the Find a LAP-BAND AP^® System Surgeon tool and the seminar/support group calendar tool on www.lapband.com. These resources help potential patients find LAP-BAND AP^® System Certified Surgeons and patient seminars in their area.

Reference: 1. Data on file, Allergan market research 2008.