By the year 2014, over 30 million new patients will make an entry into the American healthcare system. As such, will you and your practice be ready by then?

With around 32 million Americans (which accounts for about 10% of the US population) having access to the healthcare system by the year 2014, new patients will rapidly enter the offices of primary care physicians and specialty MDs, and be referred on to physical therapists and other subsidiary health professionals.

The typical marketing plan that's focused on new patient acquisition may no longer apply to many practitioners in those specialty areas. As an alternative, many primary care and MD specialty practices will need to train eyes on improving practice management, recruiting and hiring ancillary staff like physician assistants, nurse practitioners and techs, and adding elective service niches, and the like to maintain their profitability. They may also have to train eyes on attracting and retaining professional referrals.

Some practitioners will need to train eyes on attracting the most lucrative case in order to avoid potential burn out from the anticipated onslaught of general and possibly unprofitable cases. Health practitioners will also require to spotlight more on customer service training and excellence for their front office support staff. This is because some practices will earn a larger pie of the increased patient population, most likely overtaking and damaging their customer service capabilities.

Without a doubt, healthcare reform will not impact all health practitioners. Dentistry and its specialties (endodontics, periodontics, etc.) won't be affected. Neither will specialists who're chiefly in elective care, audiology, veterinary medicine or cosmetic surgery. However, for many others there'll be some scrambling for a share of the new patients.

So be it your healthcare marketing plan or small business marketing strategies, they all will have to be reassessed and adjusted to meet the new demands and realties your practice will face by the year 2014.