Market Value Medicine

Episode 044

Most doctors don’t have to worry too much about marketing. Their customers (aka: patients) need their services to relieve pain and stay alive, so they’re always in demand. Once hired by a clinic or hospital the doctor has a steady stream of patients as dictated by the patient’s health insurance policies.

Plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Brian Kent, has to do things a little differently. His work is considered “elective” and not covered by insurance. His patients pay out of pocket. Therefore, he has to have a website, gather testimonials, post before and after photos, advertise, and maintain a stellar reputation to keep his business running just like most other service based businesses.

"I have a lot of inside information and that's more than most people have when they choose somebody."

Dr. Kent and I discuss how when he needs to go to a doctor he can ask his colleagues, but when the general public has to choose a doctor it’s pretty much luck of the draw. He points out that in other performance based fields, like professional sports, there are tons of statistics on which the players are judged. In medicine there’s no public reporting of how quickly patients recover or how successful treatments and surgeries are at solving a patient’s problem. We also get into the difficult problem of who decides how much the doctor gets paid, how many other layers of people get involved, and how that effects what patients pay.

Dr. Kent can be reached by calling his office at (918) 994-4100. Those before and after photos we mention are available on his website briankentmd.com. His book, S.N.A.F.U. – A Medical Satire, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

Costumes

In his application to be on the show Dr. Kent said he didn’t want to wear a costume and jokingly added that if he did wear a costume it would be a sheep costume. Little did he know just how quickly I’ll take any costume suggestion and run with it.

Follow the show on Instagram @moneyheartshow to see more pics of my costumes from each episode. I also include my guest’s costume when they choose to wear one.