Name change can be necessary for your practice

To understand why Keith Rezin, MD, twice changed the name of his practice, you only need to look at how it has grown and evolved.

Dr. Rezin, an orthopedic surgeon in Morris, Ill., started as a solo physician and named his practice Rezin Center for Orthopedics. As he added physicians and locations, he later renamed it Rezin Orthopedic Centers, as a way to denote multiple locations.

Last year, the group, which now boasts eight locations as well as seven orthopedic surgeons, a physiatrist and a podiatrist, changed its name yet again to Rezin Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.

The change came with a strong marketing punch. The group changed its letterhead, spiced up its Web site and developed a slogan -- "Work. Play. Live." -- that the doctors felt appealed to the masses.

"We wanted to let people know we place a special emphasis on sports medicine, too," Dr. Rezin said. "It was a kind of change in regards to the overall look of the practice."

While changing the name of their practice is not an everyday occurrence, some physicians will do so in order to gain a competitive marketing advantage. They might see a changing patient demographic that they want to reflect in the name, such as a primary care practice that caters to a growing senior population and wants to include a reference to gerontology.

A group also could see a market opportunity that it wants to capture by expanding the reach of its current practice, such as an orthopedic group adding spine specialists and reflecting that in its name.

But changing your name isn't a strategy to take lightly, consultants said. Asking patients to identify you differently could alter or erase the cachet you have built in your community. Even a fairly generic name such as "Main Street Cardiology" or "Springfield Surgery" could be a powerful brand once it's established, consultants said.

"There's a lot to think about before you do it," said John Rogers, president of Health Management Strategies, a consulting firm in Ridgewood, N.J. "To build an image, it takes time and money."

On the other hand, a new name could be the launching pad to a new brand or another way to tap into marketing potential that had been lying dormant.

For example, Wright State Physicians, a group with more than 100 physicians and 15 locations in the Dayton, Ohio, area, recently changed its name from University Medical Services Associates. The doctors wanted to highlight their connection as faculty members at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, said Adam Mezoff, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist and president of the group.

Though the group has its own board, it needed Wright State's approval because its name was involved, Dr. Mezoff said.

"It helps in that it gives a clearer identification of who you are, and it identifies things we do that people might not be aware of," Dr. Mezoff said. "It helps the community know what resources are available to them."

Because of the group's reach across the surrounding Dayton area, Wright State Physicians coordinated its name change with a marketing campaign that included advertisements in local newspapers. It also had to orchestrate the ads with changes to its business cards, letterhead and any other public marketing materials. Most important, it had to communicate the change to anyone with whom the group has a contract, Dr. Mezoff said.

"It isn't just changing a name," he said. "You have to figure out any form ever printed and think of every partner to make sure they know."

Likewise, Dr. Rezin said his practice spent close to $20,000 to market its new name and image.

"It's a complete makeover versus just a name change," he said. "Once you do one thing, you start looking at everything in the office."

The actual changing of your practice's name is not very costly or complicated, and in most cases, the process does not require a change in the group's tax identification number, attorneys said.

It involves registering your new name with your state's secretary of state office (or whatever office handles corporate registrations), which will run a check of other trade names in the state to make sure your name is not identical, said David J. Hyman, a health care attorney with Sneed Lang P.C. in Tulsa, Okla.

A search that doesn't come back with an identical match doesn't mean your name is safe, though. A business with a substantially similar name might choose to challenge yours in court, Hyman said.

With physician practice names usually being specialized and specific, however, the chances of a legal challenge are not as great as they might be in other industries.

"It requires a certain amount of paperwork, but it's not as if you're handling some sort of antitrust issue," Hyman said. "The problem comes up if you forget to inform everyone."

If you send in a claim to Medicare under a new name but the old contract, it's likely to be rejected, he said. The bank your group works with also must be aware and able to cash checks that will come in for a while under either name, Dr. Mezoff said.

While the administrative work can be tedious, it could pay off for the group that has the strategic motivation to change its name and the conviction to embrace the marketing plan to make it successful. That means the physicians in the group need to buy into the change and share in its vision, doctors said.

"You have to have a consensus of the group," Dr. Rezin said.

"Then you have to decide: What message do they want to push to the community?"