Surveying the Business of Dispensing Hearing Aids

While the
profession of audiology aspires to a noble purpose, the business side is
fraught with uncertainties, restrictions and cautions, especially when the
audiologist dispenses hearing aids. Every state in the union has its own
licensing requirements. Hearing aid wearers do not understand that the rehabilitation
process is indeed a process not a one-step solution. Their predominant source of
information about hearing aids, the internet, offers more confusion than
clarity. Who is doing well is this environment?

Cultivating new
patients and customers seems to be more of an art than a science. How much new
business is driven by new products and how much by better, more savvy
marketing? Where are people going to buy their hearing aids? With whom are they
talking before they buy? What is the best way to partner with a
manufacturer/supplier? How will healthcare reform affect the audiologist?

Over the course of
the past decade, the American Academy of Audiology and the Academy of Doctors
of Audiology, among others, have made huge strides in elevating the quality of
education and credentials for the daily practitioner, but very little has been
done to assist in improving the business development side of audiology. We have
a few questions we’d like to ask.

Verve Marketing
will be fielding a survey to find out more about how audiologists feel about
their work and their profession. We will share the results of what we find both
here and elsewhere. To find out more, contact me.