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For Hearing HealthCare News, the patient newsletter, we suggest mailing to your current patients who use hearing aids and to prospective new patients (such as those seen at health fairs or who call your office for information). You can also include your referring physicians to let them know about the extra care you provide their patients. We also recommend including your local newspaper (attention: health editor), office of the aging, library and any other groups that might be interested in hearing healthcare. The purpose is to remind others that you are the local expert on hearing healthcare.

For Audiology HealthCare News, the physician newsletter, we suggest mailing to all your local family physicians, internists, pediatricians, oncologists, pharmacists, chiropractors, etc. You can build this mailing list from your local yellow pages, the list of network providers in any group health insurance plan in which you participate, and from the physician names your patients give you.

Your patient newsletter is customized in two areas. On the front panel, we imprint your office name and return address, as well as a logo and bulk permit, if you wish. On the back panel, we print the custom copy provided by you, or you can select this copy from our Library or from the editor's copy we provide. This is also where we print your closing (name, phone number, office locations).

Before every issue, we send you our Subscriber Bulletin. The Bulletin is your reminder of the custom copy deadline. It also lists the upcoming topics and shows you the editor's copy (default copy for the custom copy area).

Your physician newsletter is customized for your office in the return address area. You do not need to submit any copy for Audiology HealthCare News since it is completely pre-written.

Your patient will get 4 customized newsletters for about the cost of a pack of batteries or less. For example, a one-year subscription (4 issues) for 1000 copies costs about $2.00 per patient. A survey of our subscribers about their results ROI Survey showed a return of better than $18 for every dollar they spent.

Your AHN physician newsletter will cost about $6 per year per physician, depending on the number you order. This cost is recovered if that physician refers one patient for an audiologic evaluation in the next 15 years and that's not counting any any hearing aid fees!

There is a great deal for your patients to learn, understand, and accept about hearing loss-more than can be accomplished in 6 or 8 weeks of follow-up visits. A newsletter is an effective method of keeping in touch with your patients by providing them valuable advice and information periodically. In fact, the lack of follow-up care is the #1 complaint of hearing aid users (according to MarkeTrak III data). Many offices frame their follow-up program around their newsletter schedule.

Physicians and other healthcare providers need to know how audiologists are helping people with hearing loss. The AAA Marketing Committee Report summarized in Audiology Today (Jan/Feb 98) said: "Educating physicians about hearing care and audiologists is crucial. As seniors get most of their health care information through their primary care physicians, the PCP's become the key link between patients and audiologists."

In our most recent survey of our subscribers, 85% said it was "a good or excellent" value and that it took 4 hours or less to prepare. The Hearing Journal called us one of their "40 Great Marketing Ideas" (Sept. '94). Many hearing aid manufacturers allow their co-op funds to be used for this newsletter.