2. For many years, the Dawson multispecialty group had a growing practice in the northwestern part of the United States. It had a large referral base from primary care physicians. In recent years, however, the group’s referral growth had slowed rather significantly. At a recent meeting between the president of the medical group and the director of marketing and strategic planning, the director said she would review the list of referral physicians over the past three years to determine if that would present any insight into trends. Reviewing the data during the following meeting, she said, “Well, I had our IT department scan our complete list of referrers, and while we have had some physicians no longer refer to us, we have seen some new referrers join our list. So, I am not sure why there is no new growth here. I am not sure we can assume that their patient volume is flat.”

At that point, Dr. McMaster, the medical group’s president, mentioned that she had heard you present at a recent healthcare meeting during a panel discussion. She had asked for your card and handed it to the medical group’s marketing director. “Call this person, Dr. McMaster said, “I heard them speak at a meeting, maybe they can bring some insight into the issue.”

The physicians have been referring to the group year after year. Provide your insight.