Musings on Practice Names, Acronyms, and Initialisms

By Jackie Delk, Creative Director

As I read the previous entries by bloggers Vanessa and Tony regarding logos, my mind drifted easily to the other part of that practice identity: practice names.

Over the course of my many years writing and editing for the medical world, I still am amazed at some of the truly complicated and easily forgotten practice names I have encountered. I have often wondered how much time must have been spent coming up with just the right combination of terms and words that no patient would ever remember. Most patients simply refer to the fact that they see Dr. [insert name here].

When asked for guidance by sole practitioners or small practices, I almost always recommend that they stick with their own names. If you have a long, hard-to-find name, lose it. Go to using your own name. Patients will thank you when they have to look up a lost phone number.

Case in point: An old client of mine had a practice name that was impossible for a patient to remember or quickly find in the phone book: The Center for Vein Care and Laser Therapy. He was a sole practitioner, and everyone just referred to his practice as Dr. Steadman. We talked about the idea of changing his name to Steadman Vein Care, which we both thought was wise. Before that change was implemented, he sold his practice to a vascular specialist named Edward Mackay, who promptly changed the practice name to the very simple Dr. Mackay, with a tagline “Vein and Laser Specialist.” It has served him well.

Another practice comes to mind. Ophthalmologist Dr. Stuart Kaufman was using the name Florida Eye Care, Laser & Cataract Centers as his practice name. When he changed it to Kaufman Eye Institute, I said, “Way to go!”

Think about your phone book listing
I am not an advocate of paying a lot of money to buy display ads in phone books. Prospective patients are not likely to go to the yellow pages to choose their physicians. Car mechanics? Insurance agents? Realtors? Maybe; but not doctors. They might, though, pick up a phone book to look up a number in the white pages. That is why starting the name of a practice with the word “Center” is problematic. If you want to use “Center,” or any other generic term, put it at the end of your name: The Midsouth Cancer Center.

And, by the way, that one at least tells you what kind of doctor you will get. Another former client was Center for Health and Longevity. Can you guess that she is a gynecologist?

Acronyms and Initialisms
Let’s start with definitions. An acronym, a term said to have been initiated by Bell Laboratories in 1943, uses the first letter of each word, and it forms something that is a recognizable word or is pronounceable. Integrated Community Oncology Network in Jacksonville, Florida, uses ICON as their acronym. Physicians of Rehabilitation, Industrial & Spine Medicine in Pennsylvania, has smartly adopted the acronym PRISM. Those cumbersome names have been converted to clever acronyms that make branding much easier and much more memorable. Another is FROG, which stands for Florida Radiation Oncology Group. It gave them a patient -friendly identity and a cute mascot.

Initialisms
What if you want to use the first letter of each word in your name, but it isn’t pronounceable? At Advent Media Group, we like the term “initialism.” Using an initialism can work well to make it easier for patients to refer to your practice. An example is Arizona Otolaryngology Consultants, P.C. They are very comfortable with being called AOC, and that’s a plus since, for patients, “otolaryngology” can be a tongue twister.

If you are going to use an initialism, make sure it is a solid branding decision. Your staff should use it frequently, and advertising copy should indicate that you are accepting of it.

Always make sure that the entire practice name is spelled out on first mention, and the initialism is indicated parenthetically after that. The initialism can be used throughout the rest of the copy.