You get a criteria-only scorecard you can print and use while vendors answer your RFP. Score healthcare-only focus, published fees, data ownership, reporting you can check against intake, HIPAA-aware tracking, and cancel terms. Catalyze Care publishes referral marketing at $5,000/month (3-month minimum), SEO at $799/month, and paid ads management at $2,500/month (media separate). This is a buying tool, not a ranked agency list.
In one sentenceScore the packet on fees, ownership, reports, and tracking posture, then hire only if intake can take the next patient.
Why a scorecard beats a vibe check
Practice owners often compare three PDFs and pick the one with the nicest chart. That hides the terms that matter: who owns the Google Ads account, which monthly fields you will see, and whether the fee sits next to a cancel clause. Pair this scorecard with the question list in healthcare marketing RFP / RFI questions and the buyer FAQ on how to choose a healthcare marketing agency.
How to score the packet (visible steps)
- Confirm healthcare-only work. Ask who the firm actually serves. Practices and provider groups are a different job than restaurants or SaaS. Messaging, fax, and HIPAA-aware tracking change. Overview: healthcare marketing agency.
- Require published monthly fees. Ask for the retainer by channel, in writing. Catalyze Care publishes $5,000/month for referral (3-month minimum), $799/month for SEO, and $2,500/month for paid ads management (media separate). Treat unnamed ROI multiples as marketing, not a score.
- Confirm who owns the accounts and the list. The practice should own the ad account, the website, and the referring-office list. If the vendor keeps the logins, you are renting a campaign.
- Require reports you can check against intake. Monthly fields should match booked inquiries the front desk can confirm. Outreach volume without a booked-inquiry column is incomplete.
- Require tracking posture and cancel terms in the same packet. HIPAA-aware conversions fire on generic thank-you pages. Diagnosis-level pixels are a fail. Cancel terms belong next to the fee, not in a later email.
How to mark each row
| Criterion | Pass | Fail |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare-only | Practices and provider groups named as the client | A generalist retrofit with a caduceus |
| Fees | Monthly retainer by channel, media called out | Unnamed multiples or "depends, we will see" |
| Ownership | You keep Ads, site, and list | Vendor-owned accounts |
| Reporting | Fields you can check against intake | Vanity charts only |
| Tracking and cancel | HIPAA-aware, generic events, cancel in the packet | Condition pixels or missing cancel terms |
If intake cannot take the next patient, pause the RFP. Honesty: when not to hire a healthcare marketing agency.
What Catalyze Care will put in writing
Published fees only. Referral $5,000/month (3-month minimum), SEO $799/month, paid ads $2,500/month management (media separate). Reports show outreach and booked-inquiry fields from your intake. Process: how Catalyze Care works.
Written by Andrew Brazis, operator of Catalyze Care. LinkedIn: Andrew Brazis.
FAQ
What belongs on a healthcare marketing agency RFP scorecard?
Healthcare-only focus, published fees by channel, who owns the ad account and target list, monthly report fields you can check against intake, HIPAA-aware tracking, and cancel terms in the same packet. Catalyze Care publishes referral $5,000/month (3-month minimum), SEO $799/month, and paid ads $2,500/month management (media separate).
How do Catalyze Care fees map to an RFP?
Score the packet against published retainers: referral marketing $5,000/month with a 3-month minimum, SEO $799/month, paid ads $2,500/month management with media billed to the platforms.
What should I read after the scorecard?
Use the RFP question list, then how to choose a healthcare marketing agency for channel order, then the healthcare marketing agency overview. If intake cannot take the next patient, wait.